THE BOOK WAS
DRENCHED
TIGHT BINDING BOOK
CO 00
S< OU_158658>5
If If
AN ACdOUUT
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
THE MODERN EGYPTIANS,
WRITTEN IN EGYPT DURING THE YEARS 1833, -34, AND -35,
'ARTLY FROM NOTRS MADE DUUINfl A FORMER VISIT TO THAT OOUNTRY
IN THE YEARS 1825, -20, -27, AND -!>H.
BY EDWAED WILLIAM LANK,
HON.M.U.J-.L , Km,
TRANSLATOR OF "TUB THOUSAND AN1> ONh Nir.TITS "
THE FIFTH EDITION,
WITH NUMEROQS ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMK^TS, FROM A COPY ANNOl'ATKD
BY THK AUTHOR.
KDITKD BY HIS M PI1EV ,
KDWATU) STANLEY POOLK,
M.R.A.N., KTf.
LONDON:
JOHN MUBEAY, ALBEMAKLE STREET.
I860.
LONDON : PRINTED TiY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.
CONTENTS.
PACK
Editor's Preface ........ xi
Author's Preface . xiii
Advertisement to the Third Edition ...... xxi
INTRODUCTION.
The Country and Climate Metropolis Houses Population . . 1
CHAPTER I.
Personal Characteristics, and Dress, of the Muslim Egyptians . . '25
CHAPTER IT.
Infancy and Early Education ... . 53
CHAPTER III.
Religion and Laws ........ 64
CHAPTER IV.
Government . . . . . .110
CHAPTER V.
Domestic Life (Men of the Higher and Middle Orders) . . . 132
CHAPTER VI.
Domestic Life c<mtiwted (Women of the Higher and Middle Orders) . 155
CHAPTER VII.
Domestic Life continued (The Lower Orders) . . . ... 192
CHAPTER VTTI.
Common Usages of Society . . . . .198
CHAPTER IX.
Language, Literature, and Science ...... 207
v i CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
PAOF
Superstitions (Genii, Saints, and Darweeshes) ..... 22'2
CHAPTER XI.
Superstitions continued (Charms, and Auguration) . . . .247
CHAPTER XH.
Magic, Astrology, and Alchymy . . . . . .263
CHAPTER XIII.
Character 276
CHAPTER XIV.
Industry . 307
CHAPTER XV.
Use of Tobacco, Coffee, Hemp, Opium, &c. . . . .331
CHAPTER XVI.
The Bath . 336
CHAPTER XVII.
Games .......... 344
CHAPTER XVIII.
Music .......... 353
CHAPTER XIX.
Public Dancers ......... 377
CHAPTER XX.
Serpent-Charmers, and Performers of Legerdemain Tricks, &c. . , 383
CHAPTER XXI.
Public Recitations of Romances . . . . . .391
CHAPTER XXII.
Public Recitations of Romances continued ..... 400
CHAPTER XXIII.
Public Recitations of Romances continued ..... 414
CONTENTS.
Vll
CHAPTER XXIV.
PAGE:
Periodical Public Festivals, &c. (Those of the first three months of the
Muslim year.) ........ 426
CHAPTER XXV.'
Periodical Public Festivals, to. continued. (Those of the fourth and follow-
ing months of the Muslim year.) ..... 457
CHAPTER XXVI.
Periodical Public Festivals, &c. continued. (Those of the Solar year.) . . 488
CHAPTER XXVII.
Private Festivities, &c. . . . . . . . . 500
CHAPTER XXVJII.
Death, and Funeral Rites . . . . . .511
SUPPLEMENT.
I. The Copts ......... 529
II. The Jews of Egypt 553
III. Of late Innovations in Egypt ...... 557
APPENDIX A.
Female Ornaments ........ 560
APPENDIX 1*.
Egyptian Measures, Weights, and Moneys . . . . .571
APPENDIX C.
Household Expenditure in Cairo ...... 574
APPENDIX D.
Prayer of Muslim School-Boys , .... 575
APPENDIX E.
Directions tor the Treatment of Dysentery and Ophthalmia . . . 576
APPENDIX F.
Kditor's Notes ... . . . . . . .577
hide* .......... 599
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1 . Sketch in a Guest-Chamber. FRONTISPIECE. IMGK
2. Private Houses in Cairo 5
3. Door of a Private House 7
4. Specimens of Lattice-work 8
5. Court of a Private House in Cairo . . . . . . . . 10
0. Pavement of a Durka'ah 12
7. Fountain ............. 13
8. Suffeh ib.
9. Specimens of Panel-work 14
10. Ceiling of a Durlsd/ah 15
11. Ceiling of a projecting Window ib.
12. A Kd'ah 17
13. Wooden Lock . .- 19
14. Men of the Middle and Higher Classes 29
1 5. Men of the Lower Classes ........ 33
16. The Mukleh 35
17. An Eye ornamented with Kohl 36
18. Muk-hulahs and Mirweds ......... 37
19. Ancient Vessel and Probe for Kohl ib.
20. An Eye and Eyebrow ornamented with Kohl, as represented in ancient
Paintings ............ ib.
21. Hands and Feet stained with Henn& 38
22. A tattooed Girl 40
23. Specimens of Tattooing on the Chin ib,
24. Tattooed Hands and Foot ib,
25. A Lady in the Dress worn in private .. ~ ..... 42
26. A Lady adorned with the Kurs and Safa, &c. . .... 44
27. Ladies attired for Riding or Walking 46
28. Women and Children of the Lower Classes 48
29. A Woman clad in the Milayeh, &c 49
30. Ornamented black Veils 50
31 . The 'Asbeh ib.
32. A Woman of the Southern Province of Upper Egypt .... 51
33. Parade previous to Circumcision 58
34. A School-Boy learning the Alphabet 60
35. Vessels for Ablution .< 60
36. Postures of Prayer 7H
37. Postures of Prayer continued 77
38. Interior of a Mosque .......... 80
ILLTJSTKATIONS. ^ ix
PAQK
39. Pipes ............. 135
40. Coffee-service ............ 137
41. 'Iz'feee and Manuals .......... 139
42. An Ass equipped in the usual manner for riding ..... 140
43. Tisht and Ibreefc ........... 142
44. Washing "before or after a Meal ........ 143
45. Kursee and Seeneeyeh .......... '&.
46. A Party at Dinner or Supper ......... 144
47. Water-bottles (Ddraks), with covers of different kinds .... 147
48. Water-bottles (Kullehs) .......... 148
49. Earthen Mibkharah, and China Ddrak ....... '&
50. Brass Driiiking-cups .......... 149
51. Sherbet-cups ............ 15
52. Lantern and Lamp ........... 151
53. Lantern, &c., suspended on the occasion of a Wedding . . . . 102
54. Bridal Procession (Part I.) ......... 164
55. Bridal Procession (Part II.) ......... 165
56. Mesh'als ............. 9
57. The Menseg ............ 188
58. Ladies Riding ............ 190
59. Kumkum and Mibkharah ......... 2U3
60. Books, and Apparatus for Writing ........ 210
61. Magic Invocation and Charm ......... 269
62. Magic Square and Mirror of Ink ........ 270
63. Shops in a Street of Cairo ......... 314
64. Shop of a Turkish Merchant in the Sook called Khan El-Khaleeloc . 316
320
66. Sakka Sharbeh ........... 321
67. IJemalees ............ 3i>2
68. 'Erk-soosee ............ 323
69. Musellikatee ............ 324
70. The Shadoof ............ 327
71. Section of the Hararah .......... 338
72. Plan of a Bath ........ . . 339
73. Foot-rasps ............ 341
74. Mankalah ............ 347
75. Seegi ............. 349
76. Kemengeh ............ 357
77. A Performer on the Kemengeh ........ 358
78. Kanoon ............. 359
79. A Performer on the Kanoon ......... 360
80. 'God ............. 361
81. A Performer on the 'God ......... 362
82. Nay ............. {6 -
83. A Performer on the Nay .......... 363
84. Kabab esh-Sha'er ............ 364
85. Sdgat ............. 360
86. Tar .............. ib -
87. Darabukkeh ............ f
88 and 89. Earthen Darabukkch ......... 367
90 and 91. Zummaruh ........... #
I
x ILLUSTBATIONS.
PAGE
92. Mouth-piece of the Zummarah 367
93. Arghool ... *'&.
94-. Dancing-Girls (Ghawazee, or Ghazeeyehs) 378
95. A Sha'er, with his accompanying Violist, and part of his Audience . . 393
96. Whirling Darweesh 433
97. The Mahmal 439
98. The D<5seh 452
99. Funeral-Procession 515
100. Bier used for the conveyance of the Corpse of a Female or Boy . . 518
101. Sketch of a Tomh, with the Entrance uncovered 524
102. Turban of the Coptic Patriarch and Bishops 533
103. Turban of a Coptic Priest 534
104. Diamond Kur? 561
105. Gold Kurs ft.
106. Kusah 562
107. 'Enebehs ib.
108 and 109. Kaniarahs ........... 563
110. Sakiyeh t'6.
111. 'Ood es-Saleeb t'6.
112 and 113. Mishts tft.
114. 'Akeefc 16.
115. Belloor i&.
116. Ear-rings 564
117. Necklaces 565
118. Bracelets. . 566
119. 120, 121, and 122. Bark 567
123. Masoorah i&.
124. Ilabbeh f&.
125. Shiftisheh ib.
126. Anklets ib.
127. Hegabs 568
128. Nose-rings 569
129. T<5k, or Neck-ring ib.
130. Part of the Interior of a Tumulus at Kertch 587
131. Ornament from the Interior of a Tomb at Cairo 588
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
THE present edition of the " Modern Egyptians " is printed in the
same manner as the companion-volumes of the " Thousand and One
Nights/' from the text of Mr. Lane's last edition, with the additions
and alterations which he has, from time to time, made in a copy of
the work. 1
The duty of correcting the press I undertook because important
studies rendered it impossible for the Author to do so : and my en-
deavour has been to produce, by careful collation, a faithful text of a
book which I feel it is not in my power to improve. In superintend-
ing a new edition of the " Thousand and One Nights " I was conscious
how little might be added of use or relevance. What was then diffi-
cult I found in the " Modern Egyptians " to be impossible, and deter-
mined to insert nothing in the text, even as a foot-note. The notes
I wished to make are therefore confined to an Appendix, and even in
that form I have doubted the propriety of printing them. But
though not necessary to the completeness of an account of manners
and customs, they touch on subjects relative to the Muslim inha-
bitants of Egypt, and may therefore be found of interest. What I
have said in them, I have endeavoured to say as briefly as may
be, relying on facts rather than opinions, in the hope of supplying
materials for more elaborate treatises.
Of the " Modern Egyptians/' as the work of an Uncle and Master,
it would be difficult for me to speak, were its merits less known and
recognized than they are. At once the most remarkable description
of a people ever written, and one that cannot now be rewritten, it
will always live in the literature of England. With a thorough
1 These have been, in some portions, considerable, and such as render this the Standard Edition of
the work.
xii EDITOR'S PREFACE.
knowledge of the people and of their language, singular power of
description, and minute accuracy, Mr. Lane wrote his account of
the " Modern Egyptians," when they could, for the last time, be
described. Twenty-five years of steam-communication with Egypt
have more altered its inhabitants than had the preceding five cen-
turies. They then retained the habits and manners of their remote
ancestors : they now are yearly straying from old paths into the new
ways of European civilization. Scholars will ever regard it as most
fortunate that Mr. Lane seized his opportunity, and described so
remarkable a people while yet they were unchanged.
A residence of seven years in Egypt, principally in Cairo, while it
enabled me to become familiar with the people, did not afford me any
new fact that might be added to this work : and a distinguished
English as well as Biblical scholar, the Author of " Sinai and Pales-
tine," not long ago remarked to me, " s The Modern Egyptians ' is
the most provoking book I ever read : whenever I thought I had dis-
covered, in Cairo, something that must surely have been omitted, I
invariably found my new fact already recorded." I may add that a
well-known German Orientalist has lately visited Cairo with the express
intention of correcting Mr. Lane's descriptions, and confessed that
his search after mistakes was altogether vain.
I have not thought it expedient to add to the chapter on Late
Innovations in Egypt. That chapter brought down the history of
its inhabitants to the best time of the rule of Mohammad 'Alee, and
closed the record of an exclusively Eastern nation. To continue it
would be only to chronicle the gradual disuse of their national and
characteristic customs, and the adoption of Western habits that must
mark a new era in their history as a nation.
The woodcuts in this edition are the same as those of the former
editions, printed from the same blocks, with the exception of the
Frontispiece, which, though it is from a sketch of Mr. Lane's, was
not, like the rest, drawn by him on the wood.
London, November, 18(>0.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Cairo, 1835.
DURING a former visit to this country, undertaken chiefly for the
purpose of studying the Arabic language in its most famous school, I
devoted much of my attention to the manners and customs of the
Arab inhabitants ; and in an intercourse of two years and a half with
this people, soon found that all the information which I had pre-
viously been able to obtain respecting them was insufficient to be of
much use to the student of Arabic literature, or to satisfy the cu-
riosity of the general reader. Hence I was induced to cover some
quires of paper with notes on the most remarkable of their usages,
partly for my own benefit, and partly in the hope that I might have
it in my power to make some of my countrymen better acquainted with
the domiciliated classes of one of the most interesting nations of the
world, by drawing a detailed picture of the inhabitants of the largest
Arab city. The period of my first visit to this country did not, how-
ever, suffice for the accomplishment of this object, and for the
prosecution of my other studies ; and I relinquished the idea of pub-
lishing the notes which I had made on the modern inhabitants : but,
five years after my return to England, those notes were shown to some
members of the Committee of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, at whose suggestion, the Committee, interested with the
subjects of them, and with the novelty of some of their contents, en-
gaged me to complete and print them. Encouraged by their appro-
bation, and relying upon their judgment, I immediately determined
to follow their advice, and, by the earliest opportunity, again departed
to Egypt. After another residence of more than a year in the metro-
xiv AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
polls of this country, and half a year in Upper Egypt, I have now
accomplished, as well as I am able, the task proposed to me. 1
It may be said, that the English reader already possesses an ex-
cellent and ample description of Arab manners and customs in Dr.
RusselPs account of the people of Aleppo. I will not forfeit my own
claim to the reputation of an honest writer by attempting to detract
from the just merits of that valuable and interesting work ; but must
assert that it is, upon the whole, rather an account of Turkish than of
Arab manners ; and that neither the original Author, nor his brother,
to whom we are indebted for the enlarged and much improved edition,
was sufficiently acquainted with the Arabic language to scrutinize
some of the most interesting subjects of inquiry which the plan of the
work required them to treat : nor would their well-known station in
Aleppo, or perhaps their national feelings, allow them to assume those
disguises which were necessary to enable them to become familiar
with many of the most remarkable religious ceremonies, opinions,
and superstitions of the people whom they have described. Defi-
ciencies in their remarks on these subjects are the only faults of any
importance that I xsan discover in their excellent and learned work. 8
1 It gives me great pleasure to find, that, while I tremely careless both in his observations and in-
have been attempting to preserve memorials of the quiries : this is particularly evident in his singular
manners and customs of the most polished modern miftstatement of the correspondence of French and
Arab people, one of my learned friends (M. Ful- Mohammedan hours, and in the first two pages
gence Fresnel) has been occupied, with eminent (in the 8vo. edition) of the section on public fetes,
success, in rescuing from oblivion many interesting He has given many just philosophical observa-
' notices of the history of the eai ly Arabs, and that tions j but these occupy too large a proportion of
another (Mr. [now, Sir Gardner] Wilkinson) has a memoir scarcely exceeding one-third of the ex-
been preparing to impart to us an account of the tent of the present work. To shew that these
private life, manners, &c., of the Ancient Egyptians. remarks are not made in an invidious spirit, I
[The very high and just commendation which the most willingly express my high admiration of
works of these two authors (published since the other parts of "the great work" (especially the
above was written) have obtained from eminent contributions of M. Jomard), relating to subjects
critics renders it needless for me to add my which have alike employed my mind and pen,
humble testimony to their merits.] and upon which I shall probably publish my oh-
8 Among the memoirs in "the great French servations. Burckhardt's " Arabic Proverbs," and
work " on Egypt, is one entitled " Essai sur les their illustrations, convey many notions of re-
mosurs des habitans modernes de rEgyptej" but markable customs and traits of character of the
its author appears to mo to have fallen into an modern Egyptians ; but are very far from corn-
error of considerable magnitude, in applying to posing a complete exposition, or, in every case,
the Egyptians, in general, observations which a true one ; for national proverbs are bad tests of
were, in truth, for the most part descriptive of the morality of a people. There is one work,
the manners and customs of their naturalized however, which presents most admirable pictures
rulers, the Memlooks. It is probable that the of the manners and customs of the Arabs, and
Egyptians in some degree imitated, when .they' particularly of those of the Egyptians ; it is "The
were able to do so, the habits and customs of this Thousand and One Nights ; or, Arabian Nights'
class : I may, however, venture to affirm, that the Entertainments :" if the English reader had pos-
essay here alluded to does not convey a true notion sessed a close translation of it with sufficient illus-
of their ptesent moral and social state. Its author, trative notes, I might almost have spared myself
moreover, shews himself to have been often ex- the labour of the present undertaking. [This
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xv
I have been differently circumstanced. Previously to my first visit
to this country, I acquired some knowledge of the language and
literature of the Arabs ; and in a year after my first arrival here, I
was able to converse with the people among whom I was residing,
with tolerable ease. I have associated, almdst exclusively, with Mus-
lims, of various ranks in society : I have lived as they live, conform-
ing with their general habits ; and, in order to make them familiar
and unreserved towards me on every subject, have always avowed my
agreement with them in opinion whenever my conscience would allow
me, and in most other cases refrained from the expression of my
dissent, as well as from every action which might give them disgust ;
abstaining from eating food forbidden by their religion, and drinking
wine, &c. \ and even from habits merely disagreeable to them ; such
as the use of knives and forks at meals. Having made myself ac-
quainted with all their common religious ceremonies, I have been able
to escape exciting, in strangers, any suspicion of my being a person
who had no right to intrude among them, whenever it was necessary
for me to witness any Muslim rite or festival. While, from the dress
which I have found most convenient to wear, I am generally mistaken,
in public, for a Turk, my acquaintances, of course, know me to be an
Englishman; but I constrain them to treat me as a Muslim, by my
freely acknowledging the hand of Providence in the introduction and
diffusion of the religion of El-Islam, and, when interrogated, avowing
my belief in the Messiah, in accordance with the words of the Kur-dn,
as the Word of God infused into the womb of the Virgin Mary, and
a Spirit proceeding from Him. Thus, I believe, I have acquired their
good opinion, and much of their confidence ; though not to such an
extent as to prevent my having to contend with many difficulties.
The Muslims are very averse from giving information on subjects con-
nected with their religion or superstitions to persons whom they sus-
pect of differing from them in sentiments ; but- very ready to talk on
such subjects with those whom they think acquainted with them.
Hence I have generally obtained some slight knowledge of matters
difficult for me thoroughly to learn from one of the most lax, and of
the least instructed, of my friends ; so as to be able to draw into con-
remark, respecting " The Thousand and One tioti of the present work, to translate those admi-
Nights," was, I believe, the cause of my being rablc talcs, and to illustrate them by explanatory
employed, since the publication of the first cdi- notes.]
xvi AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
versation, upon the desired topics, persons of better irifor&iation ; and
by this mode I have invariably succeeded in overcoming their scruples.
I have had two professors of Arabic and of Muslim religion and law
as my regular, salaried tutors ; and, by submitting to them questions
on any matters respecting which I was in doubt, have authenticated
or corrected, and added to, the information derived from conversation
with my other friends. Occasionally, also, I have applied to higher
authorities; having the happiness to number among my friends
in this city some persons of the highest attainments in Eastern
learning.
Perhaps the reader may not be displeased if I here attempt to ac-
quaint him more particularly with one of my Muslim friends, the
first of those above alluded to ; and to shew, at the same time, the
light in which he, like others of his country, regards me in my pre-
sent situation. The sheykh Ahmad (or seyyid Ahmad, for he is one
of the numerous class of " shereefs," or descendants of the Prophet,)
is somewhat more than forty years of age, by his own confession ; but
appears more near to fifty. He is as remarkable in physiognomy as
in character. His stature is under the middle size : his beard reddish,
and now becoming grey. For many years he has been nearly blind :
one of his eyes is almost entirely closed ; and both are ornamented on
particular occasions (at least on the two grand annual festivals) with
a border of the black pigment called " kohl," which is seldom used but
by women. He boasts his descent not only from the Prophet, but
also from a very celebrated saint, Esh-Shaarawee ; x and his com-
plexion, which is very fair, supports his assertion that his ancestors,
for several generations, lived in the north-western parts of Africa. He
obtains his subsistence from a slender patrimony, and by exercising
the trade of a bookseller. Partly to profit in this occupation, and
partly for the sake of society, or at least to enjoy some tobacco and
coffee, he is a visiter in my house almost every evening.
For several years before he adopted the trade of a bookseller, which
was that of his father, he pursued no other occupation than that of
performing in the religious ceremonies called " zikrs " which consist
in the repetition of the name and attributes &c. of God, by a number
of persons, in chorus ; and in such performances he is still often ein-
1 Thus commonly pronounced, for Etsh-Sha^rdncc.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xv ii
ployed. He was then a member of the order of the Saadeeyeh dar-
weeshes, who are particularly famous for devouring live serpents ; and he
is said to have been one of the serpent-eaters : but he did not confine
himself to food so easily digested. One night, during a meeting of
a party of darweeshes of his order, at which their Sheykh was present,
my friend became affected with religious frenzy, seized a tall glass
shade which surrounded a candle placed on the floor, and ate a large
portion of it. The Sheykh and the other darweeshes, looking at him
with astonishment, upbraided him with having broken the institutes
of his order; since the eating of glass was not among the miracles
which they were allowed to perform ; and they immediately expelled
him. He then entered the order of the Ahmedeeyeh; and as they,
likewise, never ate glass, he determined not to do so again. However,
soon after, at a meeting of some brethren of this order, when several
Saadeeyeh also were present, he again was seized with frenzy, and,
jumping up to a chandelier, caught hold of one of the small glass
lamps attached to it, and devoured about half of it, swallowing also
the oil and water which it contained. He was conducted before his
Sheykh, to be tried for this offence ; but on his taking an oath never to
eat glass again, he was neither punished nor expelled the order. Not-
withstanding this oath, he soon again gratified his propensity to eat
a glass lamp ; and a brother- darweesh, who was present, attempted to
do the same; but a large fragment stuck between the tongue and
palate of this rash person ; and my friend had great trouble to extract
it. He was again tried by his Sheykh ; and, being reproached for
having broken his oath and vow of repentance, he coolly answered,
" I repent again : repentance is good : for He whose name be exalted
hath said, in the Excellent Book, Verily God loveth the repent-
ant.' " The Sheykh, in anger, exclaimed, " Dost thou dare to act in
this manner, and then come and cite the Kur-an before me ?" and
with this reproof, he ordered that he should be imprisoned ten days ;
after which, he made him again swear to abstain from eating glass ;
and on this condition he was allowed to remain a member of the
Ahmedeeyeh. This second oath he professes not to have broken.
The person whose office it was to prosecute him related to me these
facts ; and my friend reluctantly confessed them to be true.
When I was first acquainted with the sheykh Afymad, he had long
been content with one wife ; but now he has indulged himself with a
xviii AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
second/ who continues to live in her parents' house: yet he has
taken care to assure me that he is not rich enough to refuse my
yearly present of a dress. On my visiting him for the second time
during my present residence in this place, his mother came to the
door of the room in which I was sitting with him, to complain to me
of his conduct in taking this new wife. Putting her hand within the
door, to give greater effect to her words by proper action (or perhaps
to shew how beautifully the palm, and the tips of the fingers, glowed
with the fresh red dye of the " henna "), but concealing the rest of her
person, she commenced a most energetic appeal to my sympathy.
" Efendee V 9 she exclaimed, " I throw myself upon thy mercy ! I
kiss thy feet ! I have no hope but in God and thee !" " What words
are these, my mistress?" said I: "what misfortune hath befallen
thee? and what can I do for thee? Tell me." "This son of mine,"
she continued, " this my son Ahmad, is a worthless fellow ; he has a
wife here, a good creature, with whom he has lived happily, with God's
blessing, for sixteen years ; and now he has neglected her and me,
and given himself up to a second wife, a young, impudent wench : he
lavishes his money upon this monkey, and others like her, and upon
her father and mother and uncles and brother and brother's children,
and I know not whom besides, and abridges us, that is, myself and
his first wife, of the comforts to which we were before accustomed.
By the Prophet ! and by thy dear head ! I speak truth. I kiss thy
feet, and beg thee to insist upon his divorcing his new wife." The
poor man looked a little foolish while his mother was thus address-
ing me from behind the door ; and as soon as she was gone, promised
to do what she desired. " But," said he, " it is a difficult case. I
was in the habit of sleeping occasionally in tHe house of the brother
of the girl whom I have lately taken as my wife : he is a clerk in the
employ of 'Abbs Basha ; and, rather more than a year ago, 'Abbas
Basha sent for me, and said, ( I hear that you are often sleeping in
the house of my clerk Mohammad. Why do you act so ? Do you
not know that it is very improper, when there are women in the
house ?' I said, e I am going to marry his sister.' ' Then why have you
not married her already ?' asked the Basha. ( She is only nine years
of age.' ' Is the marriage contract made ?' ' No.' ' Why not ?' ' I
* Tie professes to have had more than thirty wives in the course of Jiis life j but, in saying so > I
believe he greatly exaggerates.
AUTHOR'S PItEFACJB. XIX
cannot afford, at present, to give the dowry/ ' What is the dowry to
fo e y> < Ninety piasters.' 'Here, then/ said the B&sha, 'take the
money, and let the contract be concluded immediately/ So you see
I was obliged to marry the girl ; and I am afraid that the Basha will
be angry if I divorce her: but I will act in such a manner that her
brother shall insist upon the divorce ; and then, please God, I shall
live in peace again." This is a good example of the comfort of having
two wives.
A short time since, upon his offering me a copy of the liur-dn, for
sale, he thought it necessary to make some excuse for doing so. He
remarked that by my conforming with many of the ceremonies of the
Muslims, I tacitly professed myself to be one of them ; and that it
was incumbent upon him to regard me in the most favourable light,
which he was the more willing to do because he knew that I should incur
the displeasure of my King by making an open profession of the faith
of El-Islam, and therefore could not do it. 1 " You give me," said
he, "the salutation of ' Peace be on you!' and it would be impious
in me, being directly forbidden by my religion, to pronounce you an
unbeliever; for God, whose name be exalted, hath said, Say not unto
him who greeteth thee with peace, Thou art not a believer :' 8 there-
fore," he added, " it is no sin in me to put into your hands the noble
Kur-dn : but there are some of your countrymen who will take it in
unclean hands, and even sit upon it ! I beg God's forgiveness for talk-
ing of such a thing : far be it from you to do so : you, praise be to
God, know and observe the command, ' None shall touch it but they
who are purified/" 8 He once sold a copy of the Iur-dn, on my
application, to a countryman of mine, who, being disturbed, just as
the bargain was concluded, by some person entering the room, hastily
put the sacred book upon the seat, and under a part of his dress, to
conceal it. The bookseller was much scandalized by this action ; think-
ing that my friend was sitting upon the book, and that he was doing
so- to shew his contempt of it : he declares his belief that he has been
heavily punished by God for this unlawful sale. There was only one
thing that I had much difficulty in persuading him to do during my
i It is a common belief among the Egyptians, incurring great trouble and expense for the pur-
that every European traveller who visits their pose of acquiring the knowledge of foreign coun-
country is an emissary from his King j and it is tries and nations,
difficult to convince them that this is not the * tfur-an, ch. iv. v. 96,
case : so strange to them is the idea of a man's Jur-an, ch. Ivi. v. 78.
XX AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
former visit to this country ; which was, to go with me, at a particular
period, into the mosque of the Hasaneyn, the reputed burial-place of
the head of El-Hoseyn, and tha most sacred of the mosques in the
Egyptian metropolis. On my passing with him before one of the en-
trances of this building, one afternoon during the fast of Ramadan,
when it was crowded with Turks, and many of the principal people of
the city were among the congregation, I thought it a good oppor-
tunity to see it to the greatest advantage, and asked my companion to
go in with me. He positively refused, in the fear of my being dis-
covered to be an Englishman, which might so rouse the fanatic anger
of some of the Turks there, as to expose me to some act of violence.
I therefore entered alone. He remained at the door, following me
with his eye only (or his only eye), and wondering at my audacity ;
but as soon as he saw me acquit myself in the usual manner, by walk-
ing round the bronze screen which surrounds the monument over the
spot where the head of the martyr is said to be buried, and then put-
ting myself into the regular postures of prayer, he came in, and said
his prayers by my side.
After relating these anecdotes, I should mention that the characters
of my other acquaintances nere are not marked by similar eccentri-
cities. My attentions to my visiters have been generally confined to
the common usages of Eastern hospitality ; supplying them with pipes
and coffee, and welcoming them to a share of my dinner or supper.
Many of their communications I have written in Arabic, at their dic-
tation, and since translated, and inserted in the following pages.
What I have principally aimed at, in this work, is correctness ; and I
do not scruple to assert that I am not conscious of having endeavoured
to render interesting any matter that I have related by the slightest
sacrifice of truth.
P. S. With regard to the engravings which accompany this work,
I should mention that they are from drawings which I have made,
not to embellish the pages, but merely to explain the text.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION.
SINCE the publication of the first edition of the present work, the
studies in which I have been engaged have enabled me to improve
it by various corrections and additions ; and the success which it has
obtained (a success very far beyond my expectations) has excited me
to use my utmost endeavours to rectify its errors and supply its
defects.
In reading the Kur-an, with an Arabic commentary, I have found
that Sale's version, though deserving of high commendation for its
general accuracy, is incorrect in many important passages ; and hence
I have been induced to revise with especial care my abstract of the
principal Muslim laws : for as Sale had excellent commentaries to
consult, and I, when I composed that abstract, had none, I placed
great reliance on his translation. My plan, in the execution of that
portion of my work, was to make use of Sale's translation as the basis,
and to add what appeared necessary from the Sunneh and other sources,
chiefly at the dictation of a professor of law, who was my tutor : but
I have found that my foundation was in several points faulty.
I ani indebted to a gentleman who possesses a thorough knowledge
of the spirit of Muslim institutions l for the suggestion of some im-
provements in the same and other portions of this work; and obser-
vations made by several intelligent critics have lessened the labour of
revision and emendation.
I have also profited, on this occasion, by a paper containing a
number of corrections and additions written in Egypt, which I had
mislaid and forgotten : but none of these are of much importance.
i David Urquhart, Esq., author of "The Spirit of the East," &c.
XX11
ADVERTISEMENT.
The mode in which Arabic words were transcribed in the previous
editions I thought better calculated than any other to enable an
English reader, unacquainted with the Arabic language, to pronounce
those words with tolerable accuracy; but it was liable to serious ob-
jections, and was disagreeable, in some respects, to most Oriental
scholars, and to myself. I have therefore now employed, in its stead,
as I did in my translation of "The Thousand and One Nights/' a
system congenial with our language, and of the most simple kind ;
and to this system I adhere in every case, for the sake of uniformity,
as well as truth. 1 It requires little explanation : the general reader
may be directed to pronounce
' a " as in our word "beggar :" 2
' & " as in " father :" 3
as in " bed :"
as in " there :"
' as in " bee :"
as in our word " eye :"
" ee
" oi
"ey
' as in " they :"
i" as in "bid:"
o " as in " obey " (short) :
6" as in "bone:"
oo " as in " boot :"
ow" as in " down :"
u" as in "bull :"
y " as in " you."
An apostrophe, when immediately preceding or following a vowel,
I employ to denote the place of a letter which has no equivalent in
our alphabet : it has a guttural sound, like that which is heard in the
bleating of sheep.
The vowel a a " with a dot beneath (a) represents the same sound
when it is more forcibly pronounced.
Each of the consonants distinguished by a dot beneath has a
peculiarly hard sound. The distinction of these letters is of great
importance to Arabic scholars, and to travellers in Egypt. 4
The usual sign of a diceresis I sometimes employ to shew that a
final " e " is not mute, but pronounced as that letter, when unaccented,
in the beginning or middle of a word.
1 Here 1 must mention, that I have written
" B&sha" instead of " Pasha" in conformity with
the pronunciation of the Egyptians.
* Strictly speaking, it has a sound between that
of "a" in "bad" and that of "u" in "bud;"
sometimes approximating more to the former,
and sometimes to the latter.
3 Its sound, however, often approximates to
that of "a" in "ball."
4 " Dh " is pronounced as " th " in " that :"
" g," generally as in " give ;" but in some parts
of Egypt as in "gem," or nearly so : " gh " re-
presents a guttural sound, like that produced in
gargling : " h " is a very strong aspirate : " k "
has properly a guttural sound (most of the people
of Cairo, and those of some provinces, cannot pro-
nounce it, and substitute for it an hiatus ; while
in Upper Egypt the Round of " g " in " give " is
used in its stead) "kh" represents a guttural
sound like that which is produced in expelling
saliva from the throat, and approaching nearer to
the sound of "h" than to that of "k:" "sh"
is pronounced as in " shall :" and " th " as in
"thin."
ADVERTISEMENT.
Having avoided as much as possible marking the accentuation in
Arabic words, I must request the reader to bear in mind, not only
that-ti single vowel, when not marked with an accent, is always short ;
but that a double vowel or diphthong, at the end of a word, when not
so marked, is not accented (" Welee," for instance, being pronounced
" We'lee," or " Wel'ee ") : also, that the accents do not always denote
the principal or only emphasis (" Sh&weesh " being pronounced " Sha-
wec'sh"); and that "dh," "gh," "kh," "ah," and "th," when not
divided by a hyphen, represent, each, a single Arabic letter.
As some readers may observe that many Arabic words are written
differently in this work and in my translation of (< The Thousand and
One Nights," it is necessary to add, that in the present case I write
such words agreeably with the general pronunciation of the educated
classes in Cairo. For the same reason I often use the same European
character to express two Arabic letters which in Egypt are pronounced
alike.
E. W. L.
May, 1842.
THE
MODERN EGYPTIANS.
INTRODUCTION.
COUNTRY AND CLIMATE METROPOLIS HOUSES POPULATION.
IT is generally observed that many of the most remarkable peculiari-
ties in the manners, customs, and character of a nation are attributable
to the physical peculiarities of the country. Such causes, in an espe-
cial manner, affect the moral and social state of the modern Egyptians,
and therefore here require some preliminary notice ; but it will not as
yet be necessary to explain their particular influences : these will be
evinced in many subsequent parts of the present work.
The Nile, in its course through the narrow and winding valley of
Upper Egypt, which is confined on each side by mountainous and
sandy deserts, as well as through the plain of Lower Egypt, is every-
where bordered, except in a very few places, by cultivated fields of
its own formation. These cultivated tracts are not perfectly level,
being somewhat lower towards the deserts than in the neighbourhood
of the river. They are interspersed with palm-groves and villages,
and intersected by numerous canals. The copious summer rains
that prevail in Abyssinia and the neighbouring countries begin to
shew their effects in Egypt, by the rising of the Nile, about the period
of the summer solstice. By the autumnal equinox the river attains
its greatest height, which is always sufficient to fill the canals by which
the fields are irrigated, and, generally, to inundate large portions of
the cultivable land : it then gradually falls until the period when it
again begins to rise. Being impregnated, particularly during its rise,
2 INTRODUCTION.
with rich soil washed down from the mountainous countries whence it
flows, a copious deposit is annually spread, either by the natural inun-
dation or by artificial irrigation, over the fields which border it ; while
its bed, from the same cause, rises in an equal degree. The Egyptians
depend entirely upon their river for the fertilization of the soil, rain
being a very rare phenomenon in their country, except in the neigh-
bourhood of the Mediterranean; and as the seasons are perfectly
regular, the peasant may make his arrangements with the utmost pre-
cision respecting the labour he will have to perform. Sometimes his
labour is light ; but when it consists in raising water for irrigation, it
is excessively severe.
The climate of Egypt, during the greater part of the year, is
remarkably salubrious. The exhalations from the soil after the period
of the inundation render the latter part of the autumn less healthy
than the summer and winter; and cause ophthalmia and dysentery,
and some other diseases, to be more prevalent then than at other
seasons ; and during a period of somewhat more or less than fifty days
(called "el-kham&seen" *), commencing in April and lasting through-
out May, hot southerly winds occasionally prevail for about three days
together. These Winds, though they seldom cause the thermometer
of Fahrenheit to rise above 95 in Lower Egypt, or in Upper Egypt
105 , 8 are dreadfully oppressive, even to the natives. When the
plague visits Egypt, it is generally in the spring ; and this disease is
most severe in the period of the khamdseen. Egypt is also subject,
particularly during the spring and summer, to the hot wind called the
(< samoom," which is still more oppressive than the khamaseen winds,
but of much shorter duration, seldom lasting longer than a quarter of
an hour or twenty minutes. It generally proceeds from the south-
east or south-south-cast, and carries with it clouds of dust and sand.
The general height of the thermometer in the middle of winter in
Lower Egypt, in the afternoon, and in the shade, is from 50 to 60 :
in the hottest season it is from 90 to 100 ; and about ten degrees
higher in the southern parts of Upper Egypt. But though the sum-
mer heat is so great, it is seldom very oppressive ; being generally
accompanied by a refreshing northerly breeze, and the air being ex-
tremely dry. There is, however, one great source of discomfort arising
from this dryness, namely, an excessive quantity of dust : and there
1 Respecting this term, see a note to the first Thebes/I have observed the thermometer to rise
paragraph of Chapter XXVI. above 110 during a fchamfiseen wind in the
* This is the temperature in the shade. At shade.
COUNTRY AND CLIMATE. 3
are other plagues which very much detract from the comfort which
the natives of Egypt, and visitors to their country, otherwise derive
from its genial climate. In spring, summer, and autumn, flies are so
abundant as to be extremely annoying during the daytime, and mus-
quitoes are troublesome at night (unless a curtain be made use of to
keep them away), and often even in the day ; and almost every house
that contains much woodwork (as most of the better houses do) swarms
with bugs during the warm weather. Lice are not always to be
avoided in any season, but they are easily got rid of; and in the
cooler seasons fleas are excessively numerous.
The climate of Upper Egypt is more healthy, though hotter, than
that of Lower Egypt. The plague seldom ascends far above Cairo,
the metropolis; and is most common in the marshy parts of the
country near the Mediterranean. During the last ten years before
my second visit to Egypt, the country having been better drained,
and quarantine regulations adopted to prevent or guard against the
introduction of this disease from other countries, very few plague-
cases occurred, except in the parts above mentioned, and in those
parts the pestilence was not severe. 1 Ophthalmia is also more
common in Lower Egypt than in the southern parts. It generally
arises from checked perspiration ; but is aggravated by the dust and
many other causes. When remedies are promptly employed, this
disease is seldom alarming in its progress ; but vast numbers of the
natives of Egypt, not knowing how to treat it, or obstinately resigning
themselves to fate, are deprived of the sight of one or both of their
eyes.
When questioned respecting the salubrity of Egypt, I have often
been asked whether many aged persons are seen among the inhabitants :
few, certainly, attain a great age in this country ; but how few do, in
our own land, without more than once suffering from an illness
that would prove fatal without medical aid, which is obtained by a
very small number in Egypt ! The heat of the summer months is
sufficiently oppressive to occasion considerable lassitude, while, at the
same time, it excites the Egyptian to intemperance in sensual enjoy-
i This remark was written before the terrible believe, than two hundred thousand in all Egypt,
plague of the year 1835, which was certainly in- According to a report made by tho government,
troduced from Turkey, and extended throughout the victims of this plague in Cairo were about
the whole of Egypt, though its ravages were not forty thousand; but I was informed, on high au-
great m the southern parts. It destroyed not thority, that the government made it a rule to ro-
less than eighty thousand persons in Cairo, that port only half the number of deaths in this ease,
is, one-third of the population ; and far more, I
4 INTRODUCTION.
ments j and the exuberant fertility of the soil engenders indolence,
little nourishment sufficing for the natives, and the sufficiency being
procurable without much exertion.
The modern Egyptian metropolis, to the inhabitants of which most
of the contents of the following pages relate, is now called " Masr," '
more properly, "Misr;" but was formerly named "El-Kahireh;"
whence Europeans have formed the name of Cairo. It is situate at
the entrance of the valley of Upper Egypt, midway between the Nile
and the eastern mountain range of the Mukattam. Between it and
the river there intervenes a tract of land, for the most part cultivated,
which, in the northern parts (where the port of Boolak is situate), is
more than a mile in width, and, at the southern part, less than half a
mile wide. The metropolis occupies a space equal to about three
square miles; and its population, during my second visit (since
which it has much increased in consequence of the reduction of the
army and from other causes) I calculated to amount to about two
hundred and forty thousand. It is surrounded by a wall, the gates
of which are shut at night, and is commanded by a large citadel,
situate at an angle of the town, near a point of the mountain. The
streets are unpaved ; and most of them are narrow and irregular : they
might more properly be called lanes.
By a stranger who merely passed through the streets, Cairo would
be regarded as a very close and crowded city ; but that this is not the
case is evident to a person who overlooks the town from the top of a
lofty house, or from the menaret of a mosque. The great thorough-
fare-streets have generally a row of shops along each side. 2 Above
the shops are apartments which do not communicate with them, and
which are seldom occupied by the persons who rent the shops. To
the right and left of the great thoroughfares are by-streets and quar-
ters. Most of the by-streets are thoroughfares, and have a large
wooden gate at each end, closed at night, and kept by a porter within,
who opens to any persons requiring to be admitted. The quarters
mostly consist of several narrow lanes, having but one general entrance,
with a gate, which is also closed at night ; but several have a by-street
passing through them. 3
Of the private houses of the metropolis it is particularly necessary
1 This is the name by which the modern Egyp- 3 A great thoroughfare-street is called*" share' " ;
tians call their country, as well as its metropolis, a by-street, "darb"; a lane, '"atfeh"; and a
a Views of shops in Cairo will be found in a sub- quarter, " harah."
sequent Chapter,
Private Houses in Cairo.
6 INTRODUCTION.
that I should give a description. The preceding engraving will
serve to give a general notion of their exterior. The foundation-walls,
to the height of the first floor, are cased externally, and often inter-
nally, with the soft calcareous stone of the neighbouring mountain.
The surface of the stone, when newly cut, is of a light-yellowish hue :
but its colour soon darkens. The alternate courses of the front are
sometimes coloured red and white, 1 particularly in large houses; as is
the case with most mosques. 8 The superstructure, the front of which
generally projects about two feet, and is supported by corbels or piers,
is of brick, and often plastered. The bricks are burnt, and of a dull
red colour. The mortar is generally composed of mud in the propor-
tion of one-half, with a fourth part of lime, and the remaining part of
the ashes of straw and rubbish. Hence the unplastered walls of brick
are of a dirty colour, as if the bricks were unburnt. The roof is flat,
and covered with a coat of plaster. It is generally without a parapet.
The most usual architectural style of the entrance of a private
house in Cairo is shewn by the sketch in the opposite page. The
door is often ornamented in the manner there represented: the com-
partment in which is the inscription, and the other similarly-shaped
compartments, are painted red, bordered with white \ the rest of the
surface of the door is painted green. The inscription, He (i. e. God)
is the Great Creator, the Everlasting" (the object of which will be
explained when I treat of the superstitions of the Egyptians), is seen
on many doors ; but is far from being general : it is usually painted
in black or white characters. Few doors but those of large houses are
painted. They generally have an iron knocker and a wooden lock ;
and there is usually a mounting-stone by the side.
The ground-floor apartments next the street have small wooden
grated windows, placed sufficiently high to render it impossible for a
person passing by in the street, even on horseback, to see through
them. The windows of the upper apartments generally project a foot
and a half, or more, and are mostly made of turned wooden lattice-
work, which is so close that it shuts out much of the light and sun,
1 Vith red ochre and limewash. walls and the dark wood of the old windows pro-
8 This mode of decorating the houses became ducing a disagreeable effect,
more general than it had been previously in con- The street in the view which I have given is
sequence of an order of the government, whereby wider than usual. The projecting windows on
the inhabitant)! were required thus to honour the opposite sides of a street often nearly meet each
arrival of Ibraheem BAsha from Syria. Several other ; almost entirely excluding the sun, and thus
years later, the people of Cairo were ordered to producing an agreeable coolness in the summer
whitewash the superstructures of their houses; months. On account of their facilitating tho
and thus the picturesque aspect of the city was spreading of fires, their construction has of late
much injured; the contrast between the white years been prohibited.
Door of a Private House in Cairo.
INTRODUCTION.
and screens the inmates of the house from the view of persons with-
out, while at the same time it admits the air. They are generally of
unpainted wood ; but some few are partially painted red and green,
and some are entirely painted. A window of this kind is called a
Specimens of Lattice-work. Prom the centre of one row of beads to that of the next (in these
specimens) is between an inch and a quarter and an inch and three-quarters.
" roshan," or, more commonly, a " meshrebeeyeh," which latter word
has another application that will be presently mentioned. Several win-
dows of different descriptions are represented in some of the illustra-
tions of this work ; and sketches of the most common patterns of . the
PBIVATE HOUSES. 9
lattice-work, on a larger scale, are given in the opposite page. 1 Some-
times a window of the kind above described has a little meshrebeeyeh,
which somewhat resembles a roshan in miniature, projecting from the
front or from each side. In this, in order to be exposed to a current
of air, are placed porous earthen bottles, which are used for cooling
water by evaporation. Hence the name of " meshrebeeyeh," which
signifies " a place for drink," or " for drinking." The projecting
window has a flat one of lattice-work, or of grating of wood, or of
coloured glass, immediately above it. This upper window, if of
lattice-work, is often of a more fanciful construction than the others ;
exhibiting a representation of a basin with a ewer above it, or the
figure of a lion, or the name of " Allah," or the words " God is my
hope," &c. Some projecting windows are wholly constructed of
boards, and a few of these lean forward, from the bottom upwards, at
an angle of about 20, being open at the top for the admission of
light. Some of the more common form have frames of glass in the
sides. In the better houses, also, the windows of lattice-work are now
generally furnished with frames of glass in the inside, which in the
winter are wholly closed; for a penetrating cold is felt in Egypt
when the thermometer of Fahrenheit is below 60. a The windows
of inferior houses are mostly of a different kind, being even with the
exterior surface of the wall : the upper part is of wooden lattice-work, 8
or grating ; and the lower, closed by hanging shutters ; but many of
these have a little meshrebeeyeh for the water-bottles projecting from
the lower part.
The houses in general are two or three stories high ; and almost
every house that is sufficiently large encloses an open, unpaved court,
called a " hosh," which is entered by a passage that is constructed with
one or two turnings, for the purpose of preventing passengers in the
street from seeing into it. In this passage, just within the door, there
is a long stone seat, called " mastabah," 4 built against the back or side
wall, for the door-keeper and other servants. In the court is a well of
1 No. 1 is a view and section of a portion of the 3 Windows with European sashes of glass, each
most simple kind. This and the other four kinds with a sash of close trellis-work outside the lower
are here represented on a scale of about one-seventh half, have lately become common in new houses,
of the real size. No. 6 shews the general propor- in many parts of Cairo. They are mostly in
tions of the side of a projecting window. The houses built in the Turkish style, more or less
portion A is, in most instances, of lattice-work approaching to European fashions; not well
similar to No. 1, and comprises about twelve rows adapted to a hot climate, though comfortable in
of beads in the width; the portion B is commonly winter.
either of the same kind, or like No. 2 or No. 3 ; and 3 Commonly similar to No. 1 or No. 5.
the small lattice 0, which is attached by hinges, is 4 Pronounced " mastab'ah."
generally similar to No. 4.
Court of a Private House in Cairo.
PRIVATE HOUSES. 11
slightly-brackish water, which filters through the soil from the Nile ;
and on its most shaded side are, commonly, two water-jars, which are
daily replenished with water of the Nile, brought from the river in
skins. 1 The principal apartments look into the court : and their ex-
terior walls (those which are of brick) are plastered and whitewashed.
There are several doors which are entered from the court. One of
these is called " bdb el-hareem " (the door of the hareem) : it is the
entrance of the stairs which lead to the apartments appropriated exclu-
sively to the women, and their master and his children. 2
In general, there is, on the ground-floor, an apartment called a
" mandarah," 3 in which male visiters are received. This has a wide,
wooden, grated window, or two windows of this kind, next the court.
A small part of the floor, extending from the door to the opposite side
of the room, is about four or five inches lower than the rest ; this part
is called the " durka'ah." 4 In a handsome house, the durka'ah of the
mandar'ah is paved with white and black marble, and little pieces of
fine red tile, inlaid in complicated and tasteful patterns, and has in
the centre a fountain (called "faskeeyeh") which plays into a small,
shallow pool, lined with coloured marbles, &c., like the surrounding
pavement. I give, as a specimen, the pattern of the pavement of a
durka'ah, such as I have above described, and a sketch of the fountain.
The water that falls from the fountain is drained off from the pool
by a pipe. There is generally, fronting the door, at the end of the
durka'ah, a shelf of marble or of common stone, about four feet high,
called a (c suffeb," supported by two or more arches, or by a single
arch, under which are placed utensils in ordinary use ; such as per-
fuming vessels, and the basin and ewer which are used for washing
before and after meals, and for the ablution preparatory to prayer :
water-bottles, coffee-cups, &c., are placed upon the suffeh. In
handsome houses, the arches of the suffeh are faced with marble and
tile, like the pool of the fountain; see the two sketches in page 13 :
and sometimes the wall over it, to the height of about four feet
or more, is also cased with similar materials ; partly with large upright
slabs, and partly with small pieces, like the durka'ah. The estrade, or
1 Some large houses have two courts: the inner 2 In the view which I have given of the court of
for the hiareem j and in the latter, or both of these, a house, the door of the Ijareem is that which faces
there is usually a little enclosure of arched wood- the spectator,
work, in which trees and flowers are raised. The s Pronounced " mandar'ah."
most common kind of tree in the court of a house * Apparently a corruption of the Persian
is the grape-vine or the mulberry ; but with one " darg&h." The frontispiece to this work will
or both of these we often find the banana, the serve to illustrate the description of the mandarah.
palm, and other trees.
12
INTRODUCTION.
raised part of the floor of the room, is called " leewan." 1 Every person
slips off his shoes on the durka'ah before he steps upon the leewan. 2
Pavement of a " Durk&'ah." The width of this is about eight feet.
The latter is generally paved with common stone, and covered with a
mat in summer, and a carpet over the mat in winter; and has a
1 The " leewan " is not to be confounded with
the "deewan," which is afterwards mentioned.
It is also, sometimes, called " eewan," which more
properly signifies "an open-fronted porch or por-
tico," and "a palace," &c. "Leewan" and "eewan"
are both of Persian origin : but the former is com-
monly said to be a corruption of "el-eewan."
* One of the chief reasons of the custom here
mentioned is, to avoid defiling a mat or carpet upon
which prayer is usually made. This, as many
authors have observed, illustrates passages of the
Scriptures, Exodus iii. 5, and Joshua v. 15.
PRIVATE HOUSES.
13
mattress and cushions placed against each of its three walls, compos-
ing what is called a "deewan," or divan. The mattress, which is
about three feet, or somewhat less, in width, and three or four inches
thick, is generally placed on the ground; and the cushions, which
Fountain.
are usually of a length equal to the width of the mattress, and of a
height equal to half that measure, lean against the wall. Both mat-
tresses and cushions are stuffed with cotton, and are covered with
printed calico, cloth, or some more expensive stuff. Sometimes the
mattress is supported by a frame made of palm-sticks, called " sereer ;"
and sometimes it lies upon a platform of stone, about half a foot high,
called "sidilleh" or "sidille," a word of Persian origin, and also
applied to a recess, of which the floor is similarly elevated, and nearly
equal in width and depth, with a mattress and cushions laid against
INTRODUCTION.
one, or two, or each, of its three sides. Some rooms have one, and
some have two or more, of such recesses, generally used as sitting-
places in cool weather, and therefore without windows. The walls of
the room are plastered and whitewashed. There are generally, in the
walls, two or three shallow cupboards, the doors of which are composed
Specimens of Panel-work. These are represented on a scale of one inch to twenty-four or thirty.
of very small panels on account of the heat and dryness of the climate,
which cause wood to warp and shrink as if it were placed in an oven ;
for which reason the doors of the apartments, also, are constructed in
PRIVATE HOUSES.
the same manner. We observe great^ variety and much ingenuity
displayed in the different modes in which these small panels are
formed and disposed. I insert a few select specimens. The ceiling
Ceiling of a Durka'ah.4&ou eight feet wide.
Ceiling of a projecting window. The dimensions of tins are about eight Jeet by three.
over the leewan is of wood, with carved beams, generally about a
foot apart, partially painted, and sometimes gilt. But that part of
the ceiling which is over the durka'ah, in a handsome house, is usually
more richly decorated : here, instead of beams, numerous thin strips
of wood are nailed upon the planks, forming patterns curiously com-
16 IOTRODUCTION.
plicated, yet perfectly regular, and having a highly ornamental effect.
I give a sketch of the half of a ceiling thus decorated, but not in the
most complicated style. The strips are painted yellow, or gilt ; and
the spaces within, painted green, red, and blue. 1 In the example
which I insert, the colours are as indicated in the sketch of a
portion of the same on a larger scale, except in the square in the
centre of the ceiling, where the strips are black, upon a yellow ground.
From the centre of this square, a chandelier is often suspended.
There are many patterns of a similar kind ; and the colours generally
occupy similar places with regard to each other ; but in some houses
these ceilings are not painted. The ceiling of a projecting window is
often ornamented in the same manner. A sketch of one is inserted.
Good taste is evinced by only decorating in this manner parts which
are not always before the eyes ; for to look long at so many lines
intersecting each other in various directions would be painful.
In some houses (as in that which is the subject of the engraving
in page 10) there is another room, called a "mak'ad," generally ele-
vated about eight or ten feet above the ground-floor, for the same use
as the mandarah, having an open front, with two or more arches, and
a low railing ; and also, on the ground-floor, a square recess, called a
" takhtabosh," with an open front, and generally a pillar to support
the wall above : its floor is a paved leewn ; and there is a long
wooden sofa (called " dikkeh ") placed along one, or two, or each, of its
three walls. The court, during the summer, is frequently sprinkled
with water, which renders the surrounding apartments agreeably cool,
or at least those on the ground-floor. All the rooms are furnished in
the same manner as that first described.
Among the upper apartments, or those of the hareem, there is
generally one called a "ka'ah," which is particularly lofty. It has
two leewans, one on each hand of a person entering : one of these is
generally larger than the other, and is the more honourable part. A
portion of the roof of this saloon, the part which is over the durka'ah
that divides the two leew&ns, is more elevated than the rest, and has,
in the centre, a small lantern, called " memrak," the sides of which
are composed of lattice- work, like the windows before described, and
support a cupola. The durkd'ah is commonly without a fountain;
but is often paved in a similar manner to that of the mandarah :
which the k&'ah also resembles in having a handsome suffeh, and
1 See Jeremiah xxii. 14.
A K&'ab.
18 INTRODUCTION.
cupboards of curious panel-work. There is, besides, in this and
some other apartments, a narrow shelf of wood, extending along two
or each of the three walls which bound the leewan, about seven feet
or more from the floor, just above the cupboards ; but interrupted in
some parts, at least in those parts where the windows are placed : upon
this are arranged several vessels of china, not so much for general use
as for ornament. 1 All the apartments are lofty, generally fourteen
feet or more in height ; but the ka'ah is the largest and most lofty
room, and in a large house it is a noble saloon.
In several of the upper rooms, in the houses of the wealthy, there
are, besides the windows of lattice-work, others, of coloured glass,
representing bunches of flowers, peacocks, and other gay and gaudy
objects, or merely fanciful patterns, which have a pleasing effect.
These coloured glass windows, which are termed " kamareeyehs," 2
are mostly from a foot and a half to two feet and a half in height, and
from one to two feet in width ; and are generally placed along the
upper part of the projecting lattice-window, in a row ; or above that
kind of window, disposed in a group, so as to form a large square ;
or elsewhere in the upper part* of the walls, usually singly, or in
pairs, side by side. They are composed of small pieces of glass, of
various colours, set in rims of fine plaster, and enclosed in a frame of
Wood. On the plastered walls of some apartments are rude paintings
of the temple of Mekkeh, or of the tomb of the Prophet, or of flowers
and other objects, executed by native Muslim artists, who have not
the least notion of the rules of perspective, and who consequently
deface what they thus attempt to decorate. In most cases, these daubs
have been executed to gratify the bad taste of Turks ; and they are
seldom seen in houses of good Arabian architecture. Sometimes the
walls are beautifully ornamented with Arabic inscriptions, of maxims,
&c., which are more usually written on paper, in an embellished style,
and enclosed in glazed frames. No chambers are furnished as bed-
rooms. The bed, in the day-time, is rolled up, and placed on one
side, or in an adjoining closet, called " khazneh," which, in the winter,
i In the larger houses, and some others, there "moon "). Baron Hammer-Purgstall thinks (see
is also adjoining the principal saloon of the the Vienna Jahrbiicher der Literatur," Ixxxi.
hareem, an elevated closet, designed as an bd., pp. 71 & 72) that it has its origin from " Chu-
orchestra, for female singers, to conceal them maruje" [or, as he is called by the Arabs in
from the view of the men of the family, as well general, Khumaraweyh], the second prince of the
as from that of the male guests if any of these dynasty of the Benee-Tooloon, who governed in
(the women having retired) be present. A de- Egypt in the end of the ninth century of the Chris-
scription of this will be found in the chapter on tian era, and that it proves the art of staining
mu8ic glass to have been in a nourishing state in Cairo
* This word is derived from " kamar " (the at that period,
PRIVATE HOUSES,
19
is a sleeping-place : in summer, many people sleep upon the house-top.
A mat, or carpet, spread upon the raised part of the stone floor, and a
deewan, constitute the complete furniture of a room. For meals, a
round tray is brought in, and placed upon a low stool, and the com-
pany sit round it on the ground. There is no fire-place ; l the room is
warmed, when necessary, by burning charcoal in a chafing-dish. Many
houses have, at the top, a sloping shed, mainly of boards, or of timbers
and reeds, the latter plastered and whitewashed within and without,
called a "malkaf," 2 directed towards the north, and open in that direc-
tion, and generally on the west side also, to convey to a " fes-hah "
or "fesahah" (an open apartment) below, the cool breezes which
generally blow from those quarters. There is commonly a fes-hah
before the entrance of one or more of the principal apartments ; and
in it the family often sit and sleep in the hot season.
Every door is furnished with a wooden lock, called a " dabbeh,"
the mechanism of which is shewn by a sketch here inserted. No. 1
in this sketch is a front view of the lock, with the bolt drawn back ;
Nos. 2, 3, and 4, are back views of the separate parts, and the key.
7*
t
f-
l> <>
Wooden Lock.
A number of small iron pins (four, five, or more,) drop into correspond-
ing holes in the sliding bolt, as soon as the latter is pushed into the
1 Except in the kitchen, in which are several
small receptacles for fire, constructed on a kind
of bench of brick. Hence, and for several other
reasons (among which may be mentioned the
sober, and "early habits of the people, the general
absence of draperies, in the apartments, and the
construction of the floors, which are of wood over-
laid with stone), the destruction of a house by fire
seldom happens in Cairo; but when such an acci-
dent does occur, an extensive conflagration is the
usual result ; for a great quantity of wood, mostly
deal, and of course excessively dry, is empioyed in
the construction of the houses.
8 See again the engraving in p. 10. "
20 INTRODUCTION.
hole or staple of the door-post. The key, also, has small pins, made
to correspond with the holes, into which they are introduced to open
the lock : the former pins being thus pushed up, the bolt may be
drawn back. The wooden lock of a street-door is commonly about
fourteen inches long : l those of the doors of apartments, cupboards,
&c., are about seven, or eight, or nine inches. The locks of the gates
of quarters, public buildings, Sec., are of the same kind, and mostly
two feet, or even more, in length. It is not difficult to pick this kind
of lock.
In the plan of almost every house there is an utter want of regu-
larity. The apartments are generally .of different heights, so that a
person has to ascend or descend one, two, or more steps, to pass from
one chamber to another adjoining it. The principal aim of the archi-
tect is to render the house as private as possible ; particularly that
part of it which is inhabited by the women ; and not to make any win-
dow in such a situation as to overlook the apartments of another house.
Another object of the architect, in building a house for a person of
wealth or rank, is to make a secret door (" bab sirr " 2 ), from which the
tenant may make his escape in case of danger from an arrest, or an
attempt at assassination, or by which to give access and egress to a
paramour; and it is also common to make a hiding-place for treasure
(called " makhba ") in some part of the house. In the hareem of a
large house there is generally a bath, which is heated in the same
manner as the public baths.
Another style of building, after the fashion of Turkey, lately very
generally adopted for houses of the more wealthy, has been men-
tioned before (page 9, note 2). These houses do not differ much
from those already described, except in the windows, and these are
generally placed almost close together.
When shops occupy the lower part of the buildings in a street
(as is generally the case in the great thoroughfares of the metropolis,
and in some of the by-streets), the superstructure is usually divided
into distinct lodgings, and is termed "raba." These lodgings are
separate from each other, as well as from the shops below, and let to
families who cannot afford the rent of a whole house. Each lodging
in a raba comprises one or two sitting and sleeping rooms, and gene-
rally a kitchen and latrina. It seldom has a separate entrance from
1 This is the measure of the sliding bolt,
2 This term is also applied, sometimes, to the door of the harecrn.
PRIVATE HOUSES. 21
the street ; one entrance and one staircase usually admitting to a range
of several lodgings. The apartments are similar to those of the private
houses first described. They are never let ready-furnished ; and it is
very seldom that a person who has not a wife nor a female slave is
allowed to reside in them, or in any private house : such a person
(unless he have parents or other near relations to dwell with) is usually
obliged to take up his abode in a "wekaleh," which is a building
chiefly designed for the reception of merchants and their goods. 1
Very few large or handsome houses are to be seen in Egypt,
except in the metropolis and some other towns. The dwellings of the
lower orders, particularly those of the peasants, are of a very mean
description : they are mostly built of unbaked bricks, cemented to-
gether with mud. Some of them are mere hovels. The greater number,
however, comprise two or more apartments ; though few are two stories
high. In one of these apartments, in the houses of the peasants in
Lower Egypt, there is generally an oven (" furn"), at the end furthest
from the entrance, and occupying the whole width of the chamber.
It resembles a wide bench or seat, and is about breast-high : it is con-
structed of brick and mud ; the roof arched within, and flat on the
top. The inhabitants of the house, who seldom have any night-
covering during the winter, sleep upon the top of the oven, having
previously lighted a fire within it; or the husband and wife only
enjoy this luxury, and the children sleep upon the floor. The
chambers have small apertures high up in the walls, for the admission
of light and air, sometimes furnished with a grating of wood. - The
roofs are formed of palm-branches and palm-leaves, or of millet-stalks,
&c., laid upon rafters of the trunk of the palm, and covered with a
plaster of mud and chopped straw. The furniture consists of a mat
or two to sleep upon, a few earthen vessels, and a hand-mill to grind
the corn. In many villages, large pigeon-houses, of a square- form,
but with the walls slightly inclining inwards (like many of the ancient
Egyptian buildings), or of the form of a sugar-loaf, are constructed
upon the roofs of the huts, with crude brick, pottery, and mud. 2
Most of the villages of Egypt are situate upon eminences of rubbish,
which rise a few feet above the reach of the inundation, and are sur-
rounded by palm-trees, or have a few of these trees in their vicinity.
i Franks, however, are now exempted from this wide mouth, which is placed outwards, and a
restriction.-' small hole at the other end. Each pair of pigeons
* The earthen pots used in the construction of occupies a separate pot.
these pigeon-houses are of an oval form, with a
22 INTRODUCTION.
The rubbish which they occupy chiefly consists of the materials of
former huts, or of an ancient town, and seems to increase in about the
same degree as the level of the alluvial plains and the bed of the
river.
In a country where neither births nor deaths are registered, it is
next to impossible to ascertain, with precision, the amount of the
population. A few years before this work was written, a calculation
was made, founded on the number of houses in Egypt, and the suppo-
sition that the inhabitants of each house in the metropolis amounted
to eight persons, and in the provinces to four. This computation
approximates, I believe, very nearly to the truth ; but personal obser-
vation and inquiry incline me to think that the houses of such towns
as Alexandria, Boolak, and Masr el-'Ateekah contain each, on the
average, at least five persons : Rasheed (or Rosetta) is half deserted ;
but as to the crowded town of Dimydt l (or Damietta), we must reckon
as many as six persons to each house, or our estimate will fall far
short of what is generally believed to be the number of its inhabitants.
The addition of one or two persons to each house in the above-men-
tioned towns will, however, make little difference in the computation
of the whole population of Egypt, which was found, by this mode of
reckoning, to amount to rather more than 2,500,000 ; but it afterwards
became reduced. Of 2,500,000 souls, I supposed about 1,200,000 to be
males ; and one-third of this number (400,000) to be men fit for military
service : from this latter number Mohammad 'Alee had taken, at the
least, 200,000 (that is, one-half of the most serviceable portion of the
male population,) to form and recruit his armies of regular troops, and
for the service of his navy. The further loss caused by withdrawing so
many men from their wives, or preventing their marrying, during ten
years, must have far exceeded 300,000 : consequently, I reckoned the
whole population as less than two millions. The numbers of the prin-
cipal classes of the population I found to be nearly as follow : *
Muslim Egyptians (fell&heen, or peasants, and
townspeople) 1,750,000
Christian Egyptians (Copts) . . . 150,000
'Osinanlees, or Turks
Syrians
Greeks
Armenians
Jews
10,000
5,000
5,000
2,000
5,000
1 Vulgarly called " Dimiyat." census will be found in an Appendix to this
a The numbers given in a recent Government work. x
POPULATION. 23
Of the remainder (namely, Arabians, Western Arabs, Nubians, Negro
slaves, Memlooks [or white male slaves] , female white slaves, Franks,
&c.), supposed to amount to about 70,000, the respective numbers
are very uncertain and variable. The Arabs of the neighbouring
deserts ought not to be included among the population of Egypt. 1
Cairo, I have said, contained about 240,000 inhabitants when this
work was written. 2 We should be greatly deceived if we judged of the
population of this city from the crowds that we .meet in the principal
thoroughfare-streets and markets: in most of the by-streets and
quarters very few passengers are seen. Nor should we judge from
the extent of the city and suburbs ; for there are within the walls
many vacant places, some of which, during the season of the inunda-
tion, are lakes. 8 The gardens, several burial-grounds, the courts of
houses, and the mosques, also occupy a considerable space. Of the
inhabitants of the metropolis, I computed about 190,000 to be Egyp-
tian Muslims; about 10,000, Copts; 3,000 or 4,000, Jews; and the
rest, strangers from various countries. 4
The population of Egypt in the times of the Pharaohs was pro-
bably about six or seven millions. 5 The produce of the soil in the
present age would suffice, if none were exported, for the maintenance
of a population amounting to 4,000,000 ; and if all the soil which is
capable of cultivation were sown, the produce would be sufficient for
the maintenance of 8,000,000. But this would be the utmost number
that Egypt could maintain in years of plentiful inundation : I there-
fore compute the ancient population, at the time when agriculture
was in a very flourishing state, to have amounted to what I first
stated; and must suppose it to have been scarcely more than half as
numerous in the times of the Ptolemies, and at later periods, when a
great quantity of corn was annually exported. 6 This calculation agrees
1 The Muslim Egyptians, Copts, Syrians, and * About one-third of the population of the metro-
Jews of Egypt, with few exceptions, speak no polis consists of adult males. Of this number I
language but the Arabic, which is also the Ian- reckoned about 30,000 to be merchants, petty
guage generally used by the foreigners settled in shopkeepers, and artisans ; 20,000, domestic ser-
this country. The Nubians, among themselves, vants ; 16,000, common labourers, porters, &c. :
speak their own dialects. the remainder chiefly consisting of military and
a The population of Cairo had increased to this civil servants of the government,
amount, from about 200,000, within three or four * I place but little reliance on the accounts of
years. Since the computation here stated was ancient authors on this subject,
made, the plague of 1835 destroyed not fewer than It has been suggested to me, that, if com was
one-third of its inhabitants, as before mentioned j exported, something of equal value was imported ;
but this deficiency was rapidly supplied from the ' and that the exportation of corn, or anything else,
villages. would give a stimulus to industry and to popula-
a The largest of these lakes, which was (as its tion : but T do not know what could be imported
place is still) called Birket El-Ezbekeeyeh, was that would fill up the measure of the food neces-
filled up and planted with trees a few yjears after sary to sustain a population much greater than
the present work was written. that which would consume the corn retained.
24 INTRODUCTION.
with what Diodorus Siculus says (in lib. i. cap. 31) ; namely, that
Egypt contained, in the times of the ancient kings, 7,000,000 inha-
bitants, and in his own time not less than 3,000,000.
In considering the policy of Mohammad 'Alee, I could not but
lament the difference of the state of Egypt under his rule from what
it might be ; possessing a population of scarcely more than one quarter
of the number that it might be rendered capable of supporting ! How
great a change might have been effected in it by a truly enlightened
government ; by a prince who (instead of impoverishing the peasantry
by depriving them of their lands, by his monopolies of the most valu-
able productions of the soil, and by employing the best portion of
the population to prosecute his ambitious schemes of foreign conquest,
and another large portion in the vain attempt to rival European manu-
factures,) would have given his people a greater interest in the culti-
vation of the fields, and made Egypt what nature designed it to be,
almost exclusively an agricultural country! Its produce of cotton
alone would more than suffice to procure all the articles of foreign
manufacture, and all the natural productions of foreign countries,
that the wants of its inhabitants demand. 1
1 During the year 1835 more than 100,000 bales exceeded 700,OOOZ. The quantity exported in the
of cotton (each bale weighing a hundred-weight year next preceding was 34,000 bales, which is
and three-quarters) were shipped at Alexandria. considerably less than usual.
The pi ice paid for this quantity by the merchants
V
CHAPTER I.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND DRESS, OF THE
MUSLIM EGYPTIANS.
MUSLIMS, in a great degree of Arabian origin, have, for many centu-
ries, mainly composed the population of Egypt : they have changed
its language, laws, and general manners; and its metropolis they
have made the principal seat of Arabian learning and arts. To the
description of this people, and especially of the middle and higher
classes in the Egyptian capital, will be devoted the chief portion of
the present work. In every point of view, Masr (or Cairo) must be
regarded as the first Arab city of our age; and the manners and
customs of its inhabitants are particularly interesting, as they are a
combination of those which prevail most generally in the towns of
Arabia, Syria, and the whole of Northern Africa, and in a great
degree in Turkey. There is no other place in which we can obtain
so complete a knowledge of the most civilized classes of the Arabs.
From statements made in the introduction to this work, it appears
that Muslim Egyptians (or Arab-Egyptians) compose nearly four-
fifths of the population of the metropolis, and just seven-eighths of
that of all Egypt.
The Muslim Egyptians are a mixed race, in a great measure
descended from various Arab tribes and families which have settled
in Egypt at different periods, mostly soon after the conquest of this
country by 'Amr, its first Arab governor. These Arab immigrants
were chiefly tribes of the desert ; but their abandonment of the life of
wanderers for that of agriculturists or citizens, and the frequent inter-
marriages of themselves and their descendants with Copts who be-
came proselytes to the faith of El-Isl&m, have resulted in the pro-
duction of a race bearing, in general, much resemblance to the
ancient Egyptians ;, whose type was predominantly Caucasian, but
inclining in various degrees towards that of the Negro. In many
26 CHAFIER I.
individuals among them we find this resemblance to be strikingly
exact, though more frequently in Copts and in Nubians ; and in the
Muslim Egyptians (as well as in the Copts) it is generally most ob-
servable in Middle and Upper Egypt. Yet they are to be regarded
as not less genuine Arabs than many of the townspeople of Arabia
itself; among whom has long and very generally prevailed a custom
of keeping Galla and Abyssinian female slaves, either instead of marry-
ing their own countrywomen, or (as is commonly the case with the
opulent) in addition to their Arab wives : so that they now bear almost
as much resemblance to the Gallas and Abyssinians as to the Bedawees,
or Arabs of the Desert. Such, at least, is the case in the towns of
the south-western side of Arabia : in the- southern parts of that
country, the townspeople are much intermixed with Indian and
Malayan races, as well as with Africans. In the Egyptians in
general, and in the Arabians also though in a less degree, an ad-
mixture of aboriginal African blood is plainly discernible. The term
" 'Arab," l it should here be remarked, is now used, wherever the
Arabic language is spoken, only to designate the Bedawees, col-
lectively : in speaking of a tribe, or of a small number of those
people, the word "''Orban" is also used; and a single individual is
called " Bedawee." a In the metropolis and other towns of Egypt,
the distinction of tribes is almost wholly lost ; but it is preserved
among the peasants, who have retained many Bedawee customs, of
which I shall have to speak. In various parts of the country, there
are families, or small tribes, descended from Arab settlers who have
generally disdained marrying women of less pure race than them-
selves ; and these are hardly, if at all, to be distinguished in their
persons from the tribes in the Arabian deserts. The native Muslim
inhabitants of Cairo commonly call themselves " El-Masreeyeen,"
"Owldd-Masr" (or " Ahl-Masr "), and " Owlad-el-Beled," which
signify People of Masr, Children of Masr, and Children of the Town :
the singular forms of these appellations are " Masree," " Ibn-Masr,"
and " Ibn-el-Beled." 8 Of these three terms, the last is most common
in the town itself. . The country people are called " El-Fellaheen "
(or the agriculturists), in the singular " Fellah." 4 The Turks often
1 This term was formerly used to designate the a Feminine, " Bedaweeyeh."
Arabian townspeople and villagers, while the Arabs 3 In the feminine, " Masreeyeh," " Bint-Masr,"
who dwelt in the Desert were called " Aarab," or and " Bint-el-Beled."
" A&r&bees." The Arabs dwelling in houses now * Feminine, " Feltefcah."
term themselves " OwUCd-el-'Arab," or Sons of
the Arabs.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 27
apply this term to the Egyptians in general in an abusive sense, as
meaning the " boors/' or " the clowns ; " and improperly stigmatize
them with the appellation of " Ahl-Far'oon," l or " the People of
Pharaoh;" the latter, when they dare to do so, retorting by calling
the former Ahl-Nemrood," or " the People of Nimrod."
In general, the Muslim Egyptians attain the height of about five
feet eight, or five feet nine inches. Most of the children under nine
or ten years of age have spare limbs and a distended abdomen ; but,
as they grow up, their forms rapidly improve : in mature age, most
of them are remarkably well-proportioned; the men, muscular and
robust ; the women, very beautifully formed, and plump ; and neither
sex is too fat. I have never seen corpulent persons among them,
except a few in the metropolis and other towns, rendered so by a life
of inactivity. In Cairo, and throughout the northern provinces,
where immigrants from more temperate climates have been most
numerous, those who have not been much exposed to the sun have a
yellowish, but very clear complexion, and soft skin ; the rest are of a
considerably darker and coarser complexion. The people of Middle
Egypt are of a more tawny colour ; and those of the more southern
provinces are of a deep bronze or brown complexion, darkest towards
Nubia, where the climate is hottest, and where Egyptians gradually
give place to Nubians. In general, the countenance of the Muslim
Egyptian (I here speak of the men) is of a fine oval form : the fore-
head, of moderate size, seldom high, but generally prominent : the
eyes are deep sunk, or appear to be so in consequence of a common
habit of depressing the eyebrows for the sake of shade ; and are black
and brilliant ; but not without some resemblance to those of Ethiopian
races : the nose is straight, but rather thick : the mouth well formed :
the lips are rather full than otherwise : the teeth particularly beauti-
ful ; and so, if we may judge from the generality of the mummies,
were those of the ancient Egyptians : 2 the beard is commonly black
and curly, but scanty. I have seen very few individuals among them
with gray eyes ; and these may be reasonably regarded as the offspring
or descendants of Egyptian women by Europeans or by other foreigners.
The FeMheen, from constant exposure to the sun, have a habit of
half-shutting their eyes : this is also characteristic of the Bedawees.
1 Thus commonly pronounced for " Fir'own." (lib. ii. cap. 84) mentions' dentists among the
2 Tooth-ache is, however, a very common dis- classes of Egyptian physicians. It is, of course,
order in Egypt, as it was in ancient times : this, most prevalent among the higher orders.
at least, was probably the case, as Herodotus
28 . CHAPTER I.
Great numbers of the Egyptians are blind in one or both of the eyes.
They generally shave portions of the beard above and below the lower
jaw, and likewise a small portion tinder the lower lip, leaving, how-
ever, after the example of the Prophet, the hairs that grow in the
middle under the mouth; or, instead of shaving these parts, they
pluck out the hair. Very few shave the rest of the beard, 1 and none
the mustache. The former they suffer to grow to the length of about
a hand's breadth below the chin (such, at least, is the general rule, and
such was the custom of the Prophet) ; and (in imitation of the Pro-
phet) the mustache they do not allow to become so long as to hide
completely the skin beneath, or to extend in the least over the upper
lip and thus incommode them in eating and drinking. The practice
of dyeing the beard is not common ; for a gray beard is much re-
spected. The Egyptians shave all the Test of the hair, or leave only
a small tuft (called " shoosheh ") upon the crown of the head. 2 This
last custom (which is almost universal among them) is said to have
originated in the fear that if the Muslim should fall into the hands of
an infidel, and be slain, the latter might cut off the head of his
victim, and, finding no hair by which to hold it, put his impure hand
into the mouth, in order to carry it ; for the beard might not be suf-
ficiently long : but it was probably adopted from the Turks ; for it is
generally neglected by the Bedawees ; and the custom of shaving the
head is of late origin among the Arabs in general, and practised for
the sake of cleanliness. 3 With the like view of avoiding impurity,
the Egyptians observe other customs, which need not here be de-
scribed. 4 Many men of the lower orders, and some* others, make
blue marks upon their arms, and sometimes upon the hands and
chest, as do the women, in speaking of whom this operation will be
described.
The dress of the men of the middle and higher classes consists of
the following articles. 5 First, a pair of full drawers 6 of linen or
1 A few of the servants, generally the grooms, parings of nails, &c. ; which, therefore, they gene-
and some others, shave their beards, but none rally bury in the earth, or otherwise conceal ; the
shaves his mustache. The respect which Ori- women commonly stuffing them into crevices in
entals in general pay to the beard has often been the walls of rooms.
remarked. They swear by it, and say that a man 3 Persons of literary and religious professions
disgraces it by an evil action. The punishment generally disapprove of the shoosheh.
recorded hi 2 Samuel, x. 4, has frequently been * They are mentioned in the "Jfishca't-ul-Masa'-
practised in modern times, but not so often as Wh," vol. ii. p. 359, and are observed by both
the shaving of the whole of the beard. sexes.
8 The Muslims hold it to be inconsistent with 5 The fashion of their dress remains almost the
the honour that is due to everything that has same during the lapse of centuries,
appertained to the human body to leave upon the In Arabic, " libaV
ground the shavings or clippings of hair, the
Men of the Middle and Higher Classes.
30 CHAPTER I.
cotton, tied round the body by a running string or band/ the ends of
which are embroidered with coloured silks, though concealed by the
outer dress. The drawers descend a little below the knees, or to the
ankles ; but many of the Arabs will not wear long drawers, because
prohibited by the Prophet. Next is worn a shirt, 8 with very full
sleeves, reaching to the wrist : it is made of linen, of a loose, open
texture, or of cotton stuff, or of muslin, or silk, or of a mixture of silk
and cotton, in stripes, but all white. 8 Over this, in winter, or in
cool weather, most persons wear a " sudeyree/' 4 which is a short vest
of cloth, or of striped coloured silk and cotton, without sleeves. 5 Over
the shirt and the sudeyree, or the former alone, is worn a long vest
of striped silk and cotton 6 (called "kaftdn," or more commonly
"kufa*n"), descending to the ankles, with long sleeves extending
a few inches beyond the fingers' ends, but divided from a point a
little above the wrist, or about the middle of the fore-arm; so that
the hand is generally exposed, though it may be concealed by the
sleeve when necessary ; for it is customary to cover the hands in the
presence of a person of high rank. Round this vest is wound the
girdle/ which is a coloured shawl, or a long piece of white figured
muslin. The ordinary outer robe is a long cloth coat, of any colour,
called by the Turks " jubbeh," but by the Egyptians "gibbeh," the
sleeves of which reach not quite to the wrist. 8 Some persons also
wear a " beneesh," or " benish ;" which is a robe of cloth, with long
sleeves, like those of the kuffa*n, but more ample : 9 it is, properly, a
robe of ceremony, and should be worn over the other cloth coat ; but
many persons wear it instead of the gibbeh. Another robe, called
" farageeyeh," nearly resembles the beneesh : it has very long sleeves ;
but these are not slit ; and it is chiefly worn by men of the learned
professions. In cold or cool weather, a kind of black woollen cloak,
called "'aba*yeh/' is commonly worn. 10 Sometimes this is drawn over
the head. In winter also many persons wrap a muslin or other
shawl (such as they use for a turban) about the head arid shoulders.
1 Called "dikkeh," or " tikkeh." The stripes are seldom plain: they are gene-
's " tfaraees." rally figured or flowered.
8 The Prophet forbade men to wear silk clothing, "ITez&n,"
but allowed women to do so. The prohibition is, 8 See the foremost figure in the preceding
however, attended to by very few modern Muslims, engraving.
except the Wahhabees. 9 See the figure to the left in the same engrav-
* More properly, " sudeyreh." ing.
5 In this, as in all the other under-clothing of 10 See engraving, p. 33, in which is represented
the Egyptians, the back is of the same material a striped 'ab&yeh. This garment is also called
as the front. 'aMah," and " 'aba."
DRESS. 31
The head-dress consists, first, of a small, close-fitting, cotton cap, 1
which is often changed; next, a "tarboosh," which is a red cloth
cap, also fitting close to the head, with a tassel of dark-blue silk at
the crown ; lastly, a long piece of white muslin, generally figured, or
a Kashmeer shawl, which is wound round the tarboosh. Thus is
formed the turban. 2 The Kashmeer shawl is seldom worn except in
cool weather. Some persons wear two or three tarbooshes, one over
another. A "shereef" (or descendant of the Prophet) wears a green
turban, or is privileged to do so ; but no other person ; and it is not
common for any but a shereef to wear a bright green dress. Stock-
ings are not in use; but some few persons, in cold weather, wear
woollen or cotton socks. The shoes 3 are of thick red morocco, pointed
and turning up at the toes. Some persons also wear inner shoes 4 of
soft yellow morocco, and with soles of the same : the outer shoes are
taken off on stepping upon a carpet or mat ; but not the inner : for
this reason, the former are often worn turned down at the heel.
On the little finger of the right hand is worn a seal-ring, 5 which is
generally of silver, with a carnelion, or other stone, upon which is
engraved the wearer's name : the name is usually accompanied by the
words " his servant " (signifying " the servant, or worshipper, of God "),
and often by other words expressive of the person's trust in God,
&c. 6 The Prophet disapproved of gold ; therefore few Muslims wear
gold rings : but the women have various ornaments (rings, bracelets,
&c.,) of that precious metaL The seal-ring is used for signing letters
and other writings ; and its impression is considered more valid than
the sign-manual. 7 A little ink is dabbed upon it with one of the
fingers, and it is pressed upon the paper; the person who uses it
having first touched his tongue with another finger, and moistened
the place in the paper which is to be stamped. Almost every person
who can afford it has a seal-ring, even though he be a servant. The
regular scribes, literary men, and many others, wear a silver, brass, or
copper " dawayeh," which is an inkhorn, or a case with receptacles
for ink and pens, stuck in the girdle. 8 Some have, in the place of
this, or in addition to it, a case-knife, or a dagger.
1 Called "t% ee 7 en " o* " 'arakeeyeh." 6 See St. John's Gospel, iii. 33; and Exodus,
a "'Ema'meh," vulg. '"Immeh." xxxix. 30.
3 " Markoob." 7 Therefore, giving the ring to another person
4 "Mezz," or, more properly, "mezd;" from is the utmost mark of confidence. See Genesis,
the Turkish " mest." xli. 42.
5 " Kha*tim," It is allowable to wear it on a 8 This is a very ancient custom. See Ezekiel,
finger of the Itft hand. ix. 2, 3, ll.The dawriyeh is represented in a cut
in Chapter IX. of this work. *
32 CHAPTER I.
The Egyptian generally takes his pipe with him wherever he goes
(unless it be to the mosque), or has a servant to carry it, though it is
not a common custom to smoke while riding or walking. The
tobacco-purse he crams into his bosom, the kuftan being large, and
lapping over in front. A handkerchief, embroidered with coloured
silks and gold, and neatly folded, is also placed in the bosom.
Many persons of the middle orders, who wish to avoid being
thought rich, conceal such a dress as I have described by a long
tyack gown of cotton, similar to the gown worn by most persons of
the lower classes.
The costume of the men of the lower orders is very simple.
These, if not of the very poorest class, wear a pair of drawers, and a
long and full shirt or gown of blue linen or cotton, or of brown woollen
stuff (the former called " *eree," and the latter " zaaboot "), open from
the neck nearly to the waist, and having wide sleeves. 1 Over this,
some wear a white or red woollen girdle ; for which servants often
substitute a broad red belt/ of woollen stuff or of leather, generally
containing a receptacle for money. Their turban is generally com-
posed of a white, red, or yellow woollen shawl, or of a piece of coarse
cotton or muslin, wound round a tarboosh, under which is a white
or brown felt cap f but many are so poor as to have no other cap than
the latter no turban, nor even drawers, nor shoes, but only the blue
or brown shirt, or merely a few rags ; while many, on the other hand,
wear a sudeyree under the blue shirt ; and some, particularly servants
in the houses of great men, wear a white shirt, a sudeyree, and a
kuftan or gibbeh, or both, and the blue shirt overall. The full sleeves
of this shirt are sometimes drawn up, by means of a cord, 4 which passes
round each shoulder and crosses behind, where it is tied in a knot.
This custom is adopted by servants (particularly grooms), who have
cords of crimson or dark-blue silk for this purpose. In cold weather,
many persons of the lower classes wear an 'abdyeh, like that before
described, but coarser, and sometimes (instead of being black) having
broad stripes, brown and white, or blue and white, but the latter
rarely. Another kind of cloak, more full than the 'abdyeh, of black
or deep-blue woollen stuff, is also very commonly worn : it is called
" diffeeyeh." 5 The shoes are of red or yellow morocco, or of sheep-
1 The zaaboot is mostly worn in the winter. " mil&yeh ") is also worn by some men, but more
8 Called "kamar." commonly by women, in the account of whose
* Called " libdeh." dress it will be further described : the men throw
4 Called " shimdr." it over the shoulders, or wrap it about the body.
A kind of brue and white plaid (called
M en of the Lower Classes.
34 CHAPTER I.
skin. Those of the groom are of dark-red morocco : those of the
door-keeper and the water-carrier of a private house, generally yellow.
Several different forms of turbans are represented in some of the
engravings which illustrate this work. The Muslims are distinguished
by the colours of their turbans from the Copts and the Jews, who (as
well as other subjects of the Turkish Sult&n who are not Muslims)
wear black, blue, gray, or light-brown turbans, and generally dull-
coloured dresses. The distinction of sects, families, dynasties, &c.,
among the Muslim Arabs, by the colour of the turban and other
articles of dress, is of very early origin. When the Im&m Ibr&heem
Ibn-Mohammad, asserting his pretensions to the dignity of Khalcefeh, 1
was put to death by the Umawee Khaleefeh Marwan, many persons
of the family of El-'Abb&s assumed black clothing, in testimony of
their sorrow for his fate ; and hence the black dress and turban (which
latter is now characteristic, almost solely, of Christian and Jewish
tributaries to the 'Osmanlce, or Turkish, Sultan,) became the distin-
guishing costume of the 'Abbasee Khaleefehs, and of their officers.
When an officer under this dynasty was disgraced, he was made to
wear a white dress. White was adopted by the false prophet El-
Mukanna', to distinguish his party from the 'Abbasees; and the
Faw&tira of Egypt (or Khaleefehs of the race of Fatimeh), as rivals of
the 'Abbasees, wore a white costume. El-Melik cl-Ashraf Shaaban,
a Sultan of Egypt (who reigned from the year of the Flight 764 to
778, or A.D. 1362 to 1376), was the first who ordered the "sherecfs"
to distinguish themselves by the green turban and dress. Some dar-
weeshes of the sect of the Rifii'ees, and a few, but very few, other
Muslims, wear a turban of black woollen stuff, or of a very deep olive-
coloured (almost black) muslin ; but that of the Copts, Jews, &c., is
generally of black or blue muslin, or linen. There are not many dif-
ferent forms of turbans now worn in Egypt : that worn by most of
the servants is peculiarly formal, consisting of several spiral twists, one
above another like the threads of a screw. The kind common among
the middle and higher classes of the tradesmen and other citizens of
the metropolis and large towns is also very formal, but less so than that
just before alluded to. The Turkish turban worn in Egypt is of a
more elegant fashion. The Syrian is distinguished by its width. The
'Ulama, and men of religion and letters in general, used to wear, as
some do still, one particularly wide and formal, called a "mukleh."
Commonly written by English authors "Caliph," or " Khalif."
WOMEN.
The turban is much respected. In the houses of the more wealthy
classes, there is usually a chair l on which it is placed at night. This
is often sent with the furniture of a bride ; as it is common for a lady
to have one upon which to place her head-dress. It is never used for
any other purpose. As an instance of the respect paid to the turban,
The Mukk-h.
one of my friends mentioned to me that an 'alim s being thrown off
his donkey in a street of this city, his mukleh fell off, and rolled along
for several yards : whereupon the passengers ran after it, crying,
" Lift up the crown of El-Islam !" while the poor '&lim, whom no
one came to assist, called out in anger, "Lift up the sheyfcJi* of El-
Islain I"
The general form and features of the women must now be de-
scribed. From the age of about fourteen to that of eighteen or
twenty, they are generally models of beauty in body and limbs ; 4 and in
countenance most of them are pleasing, and many exceedingly lovely :
but soon after they have attained their perfect growth, they rapidly
decline; the bosom early loses all its beauty, acquiring, from the relax-
ing nature of the climate, an excessive length and flatness in its forms,
even while the face retains its full charms ; and though, in most other
respects, time does not commonly so soon nor so much deform them,
at the age of forty it renders many, who in earlier years possessed
considerable attractions, absolutely ugly. In the Egyptian females,
the forms of womanhood begin to develop themselves about the ninth
or tenth year : at the age of fifteen or sixteen they generally attain
their highest degree of perfection. With regard to their complexions,
the same remarks apply to them as to the men, with only this differ-
1 Called "kursee el-'emdmeh." 4 The dress of many of the females in the
2 This appellation (of which "'ulama" is the villages is such as displays much of the person;
plural) signifies a man of science or learning. and a man often comes unexpectedly hi close view
3 " Sheykh " here signifies master, or doctor. of a group of maidens bathing in the Nile.
36 CHAPTER 1.
ence, that their faces, being generally veiled when they go abroad, are
not quite so much tanned as those of the men. They are characterized,
like the men, by a fine oval countenance ; though, in some instances,
it is rather broad. The eyes, with very few exceptions, are black,
large, and of a long almond-form, with long and beautiful lashes, and
an exquisitely soft, bewitching expression : eyes more beautiful can
hardly be conceived : their charming effect is much heightened by the
concealment of the other features (however pleasing the latter may be),
and is rendered still more striking by a practice universal among the
females of the higher and middle classes, and very common among
those of the lower orders, which is that of blackening the edge of the
eyelids, both above and below the eye, with a black powder called
" kohl." This is a collyrium commonly composed of the smoke-black
An Eye ornamented with Kohl.
which is produced by burning a kind of " liban/' an aromatic resin, a
species of frankincense, used, I am told, in preference to the better
kind of frankincense, as being cheaper, and equally good for this pur-
pose. Kohl is also prepared of the smoke-black produced by burning
the shells of almonds. These two kinds, though believed to be bene-
ficial to the eyes, are used merely for ornament; but there are* several
kinds used for their real or supposed medical properties ; particularly
the powder of several kinds of lead ore ; l to which are often added
sarcocolla, 2 long pepper, 3 sugar-candy, fine dust of a Venetian sequin,
and sometimes powdered pearls. Antimony, it is said, was formerly
used for painting the edges of the eyelids. The kohl is applied with
a small probe, of wood, ivory, or silver, tapering towards the end, but
blunt : this is moistened, sometimes with rose-water, then dipped in
the powder, and drawn along the edges. of the eyelids: it is called
"mirwed;" and the glass vessel in which the kohl is kept, "muk-
hulah." 4 The custom of thus ornamenting the eyes prevailed among
both sexes in Egypt in very ancient times: this is shewn by the
sculptures and paintings in the temples and tombs of this country;
and kofyl-vessels, with the probes, and even with remains of the black
1 " Kohl el-hoffttr." s 'Erlj; ed-dahab."
2 '"Anzaroot." * Pronounced '"inuk-hul'ah."
USE OF KOHL. 37
powder, have often been found in the ancient tombs. But in many
Muk-hulahs and Mirwetln.
These are rcpiesented on scales of one-third, and a
quarter, of the real size.
Ancient Vessel and Probe for Kolil.
cases, the ancient mode of ornamenting with the kohl was a little dif-
ferent from the modern, as shewn by the subjoined sketch : I have,
An Eye and Eyebrow ornamented with Kohl, as represented in aneient Paintings.
however, seen this ancient mode practised in the present day in the
neighbourhood of Cairo ; though I only remember to have noticed it
in two instances. The same custom existed among the ancient
Greek ladies, and among the Jewish women in early times. 1 The eyes
of the Egyptian women are generally the most beautiful of their
features. Countenances altogether handsome are far less common
among this race than handsome figures ; but I have seen among them
faces distinguished by a style of beatity possessing such sweetness of
expression that they have struck me as exhibiting the perfection of
female, loveliness, and impressed me at the time with the idea that
their equals could not be fqund in any other country. Few, however,
of the Egyptian women suffer themselves to be seen unveiled by men
who are not their near relations; and those who do so are generally
such as are conscious of possessing some degree of beauty, which they
like to exhibit, though usually pretending the display to be uninten-
1 See 2 Kings, ix. 30 (where, in our common
version, we find the words, " painted her face "
for " painted her eyes "), and Ezekiel, xxiii. 40.
Scissors are often used to reduce the width of the
eyebrows, and to give them a more arched form.
as
CHAPTER 1.
tional. The stranger, therefore, cannot form a correct general opinion
from the specimens that he sees of these women : but with such eyes
as many of them have, the face must be handsome if its other features
are but moderately well formed. The nose is generally straight ; and
the lips are mostly rather fuller than those of the men, without in the
least degree partaking of the Negro character: though in many
instances, an approach to the Ethiopian type is observable in the
mouth as well as in the other features. The hair is of that deep,
glossy black, which best suits all but fair complexions : in some
instances it is rather coarse, and crisp, but never woolly.
The females of the higher and middle classes, and many of the
Hands and Feet stained with IJcnna.
poorer women, stain certain parts of their hands and feet (which arc, with
very few exceptions, beautifully formed,) with the leaves of the henna-
tree, 1 which impart a yellowish red, or deep-orange colour. Many
thus dye only the nails of the fingers and toes ; others extend the dye
as high as the first joint of each finger and toe ; some also make a stripe
along the next row of joints; and there are several other fanciful
modes of applying the henna ; but the most common practice is to
dye the tips of the fingers and toes as high as the first joint, and the
whole of the inside of the hand and the sole of the foot; 2 adding,
i fMivsonia inermis; also called " Egyptian
privet."
* The application of this dye to the palms of the
hands and the Holes of the feet is said to hai c
an agreeable cft'cct upon the skin; particularly
to prevent its being 1 too tender and sensitive.
USE OF HENNX. %9
though not always, the stripe above mentioned along the middle joints
of the fingers, and a similar stripe a little above the toes. The henna
is prepared for this use merely by being powdered, and mixed with a
little water, so as to form a paste. Some of this paste being spread
in the palm of the hand, and on other parts of it which are to be
dyed, and the fingers being doubled, and their extremities inserted
into the paste in the palm, the whole hand is tightly bound with
linen, and remains thus during a whole night. In a similar manner
it is applied to the feet. The colour does not disappear until after
many days : it is generally renewed after about a fortnight or three
weeks. This custom prevails not only in Egypt, but in several other
countries of the East, which are supplied with henna from the banks
of the Nile. To the nails, the henna imparts a more bright, clear, and
permanent colour than to the skin. When this dye alone is applied to
the nails, or to a larger portion of the fingers and toes, it may, with
some reason, be regarded as an embellishment; for it makes the
general complexion of the hand and foot appear more delicate; but
many ladies stain their hands in a manner much less agreeable to our
taste: by applying, immediately after the removal of the paste of
henna, another paste composed of quicklime, common smoke-black,
and linseed-oil, they convert the tint of the henna to a black, or to a
blackish-olive hue. Ladies in Egypt are often seen with their nails
stained with this colour, or with their fingers of the same dark hue
from the extremity to the first joint, red from the first to the second
joint, and of the former colour from the second to the third joint ;
with the palm also stained in a similar manner, having a broad, dark
stripe across the middle, and the rest left red ; the thumb dark from
the extremity to the first joint, and red from the first to the second
joint. Some, after a more simple fashion, blacken the ends of the
fingers and the whole of the inside of the hand.
Among the females of the lower orders, in the country-towns and
villages of Egypt, and among the same classes in the metropolis, but
in a less degree, prevails a custom somewhat similar to that above
described : it consists in making indelible marks of a blue or greenish
hue upon the face and other parts, or, at least, upon the front of the
chin, and upon the back of the right hand, and often also upon the
left hand, the right arm, or both arms, the feet, the middle of the
bosom, and the forehead : the most common of these marks made upon
the chin and hands are represented in the next page. The operation
is performed with several needles (generally seven) tied together : with
40
CHAPTER I.
these the skin is pricked in the desired pattern : some smoke-black
(of wood or oil), mixed with milk from the breast of a woman, is then
rubbed in; and about a week after, before the skin has healed, a
paste of the pounded fresh leaves of white beet or clover is applied,
and gives a blue or greenish colour to the marks : or, to produce the
A tattooed Girl.
it
Specimens of tattooing on the Chin
Tattooed Hands and Foot.
TATTOOING. 41
same effect, in a more simple manner, some indigo is rubbed into the
punctures, instead of the smoke-black, &c. It is generally performed
at the age of about five or six years, and by gipsy-women. The term
applied to it is " dakk." Most of the females of the higher parts of
Upper Egypt (who are of a very dark complexion), for the purpose of
making their teeth to glisten, tattoo their lips instead of the parts
above mentioned; thus converting their natural colour to a dull,
bluish hue, which, to the eye of a stranger, is extremely displeasing. 1
Another characteristic of the Egyptian women that should be here
mentioned, is their upright carriage and gait. This is most remark-
able in the female peasantry, owing, doubtless, in a great measure, to
their habit of bearing a heavy earthen water- vessel, and other burdens,
upon the head.
The dress of the women of the middle and higher orders is hand-
some and elegant. Their shirt is very full, like that of the men, but
shorter, not reaching to the knees : it is also, generally, of the same
kind of material as the men's shirt, or of coloured crape, sometimes
black. A pair of very wide trousers (called "shintiy&n "), of a
coloured, striped stuff of silk and cotton, or of printed, or worked, or
plain white, muslin, is tied round the hips, under the shirt, 2 with a
dikkeh : its lower extremities are drawn up and tied just below the
knee with running strings ; but it is sufficiently long to hang down
to the feet, or almost to the ground, when attached in this manner.
Over the shirt and shintiya*!! is worn a long vest (called "yelck "), of
the same material as the latter : it nearly resembles the kufy&n of the
men; but is more tight to the body and arms: the sleeves also arc
longer ; and it is made to button down the front, from the bosom to
a little below the girdle, instead of lapping over : it is open, likewise,
on each side, from the height of the hip, downwards. In general,
the yelek is cut in such a manner as to leave half of the bosom
uncovered, except by the shirt ; but many ladies have it made more
ample at that part : and, according to the most approved fashion, it
should be of a sufficient length to reach to the ground, or should
exceed that length by two or three inches, or more. A short vest
i The depilatory most commonly used by the A female upon whom this application has been
Egyptian women is a kind of resin, called liban made is termed * muwatwa^ah ;" from ' wa^waV'
shamee, applied in a melted state : but this, they a bat. Some women pluck out the hair after
pretend, is not always necessary : by applying the merely rubbing the part with the ashes of
blood of a bat, to the skin of a newly-born female charcoal.
infant, on the parts where they wish no hair to 2 Turkish ladies (I am told) generally tie it
grow, they assert that they accomplish this desire. over the shirt.
' til tlte ift _
DRESS. 43
(called "'anteree" 1 ), reaching only a little below the waist, and exactly
resembling a yelek of which the lower part has been cut off, is some-
times worn instead of the latter. A square shawl, or an embroidered
kerchief, doubled diagonally, is put loosely round the waist as a girdle ;
the two corners that are folded together hanging down behind : or,
sometimes, the lady's girdle is folded after the ordinary Turkish
fashion, like that of the inen, but more loosely. Over the yelek is
worn a gibbeh of cloth, or velvet, or silk, usually embroidered with
gold or with coloured silk : it differs in form from the gibbeh of the
men chiefly in being not so wide; particularly in the fore part; and
is of the same length as the yelek. Instead of this, a jacket (called
" saltah"), generally of cloth or velvet, and embroidered in the same
manner as the gibbeh, is often worn. The head-dress consists of a
takeeyeh and tarboosh, with a square kerchief (called " faroodeeyeh ")
of printed or painted muslin, or one of crape, wound tightly round,
composing what is called a " rabtah." Two or more such kerchiefs
were commonly used, a short time since, and are still sometimes, to
form the ladies' turban, but always wound in a high, flat shape, very
different from that of the turban of the men. A kind of crown, called
"kurs," and other ornaments, are attached to the ladies' head-dress :
descriptions and engravings of these and other ornaments of the
women of Egypt will be found in the Appendix to this work. A
long piece of white muslin embroidered at each end with coloured
silks and gold, or of coloured crape ornamented with gold thread,
&c., and spangles, rests upon the head, and hangs down behind,
nearly or quite to the ground: this is called "tarhah" it is the
head- veil : the face-veil I shall presently describe. The hair, except
over the forehead and temples, is divided into numerous braids or
plaits, generally from eleven to twenty-five in number, but always of
an uneven number < these hang down the back. To each braid of hair
are usually added three black silk cords, with little ornaments of gold,
&c., attached to them. For a description of these, which are called
" safa," I refer to the Appendix. Over the forehead, the hair is cut
rather short ; but two full locks 2 hang down on each side of the face :
these are often curled in ringlets, and sometimes plaited. 3 Few of the
ladies of Egypt wear stockings or socks, but many of them wear
"mezz" (or inner shoes), of yellow or rod morocco, sometimes em-
i Pronounced "'anter'ee." men do by the beard), generally holding it when
* Called "makasee?;" singular "makoos." they utter the oath, " Wa-hayat maksooee 1"
3 Egyptian women swear by the side-lock (as
f*fii * Wfcfc
DRESS. 45
broidered with gold : over these, whenever they step off the matted
or carpeted part of the floor, they put on " baboog " (or slippers) of
yellow morocco, with high, pointed toes ; or use high wooden clogs
or pattens, 1 generally from four to nine inches in height, and usually
ornamented with mother-of-pearl, or silver, &c. These are always
used in the bath by men and women, but not by many ladies
at home : some ladies wear them merely to keep their skirts from
trailing on the ground: others, to make themselves appear tall.
Such is the dress which is worn by the Egyptian ladies in the house.
The riding or walking attire is called " tezyeereh." Whenever a
lady leaves the house, she wears, in addition to what has been above
described, first a large, loose gown (called "tob," or "sebleh"), the
sleeves of which are nearly equal in width to the whole length of the
gown : 2 it is of silk ; generally of a pink, or rose, or violet colour.
Next is put on the " burko'," or face-veil, which is a long strip of
white muslin, concealing the whole of the face except the eyes, and
reaching nearly to the feet. It is suspended at the top by a narrow
band, which passes up the forehead, and which is sewed, as are also
the two upper corners of the veil, to a band that is tied round the
head. The lady then covers herself with a " habarah," which, for a
married lady, is composed of two breadths of glossy, black silk, each
ell-wide, and three yards long : these are sewed together, at or near
the selvages (according to the height of the person) ; the seam run-
ning horizontally, with respect to the manner in which it is worn : a
piece of narrow black riband is sewed inside the upper part, about six
inches from the edge, to tie round the head. This covering is gene-
rally worn by the Egyptian ladies in the manner shewn by the sketch in
the next page ; but some of them imitate the Turkish ladies of Egypt
in holding the front part so as to conceal all but that portion of the
veil that is above the hands. The unmarried ladies wear a habarah
of white silk, or a shawl. Some females of the middle classes, who
cannot afford to purchase a habarah' wear instead of it an " eezr," or
" izar ;" which is a piece of white calico, of the same form and size as
the former, and is worn in the same manner. On the feet are worn
short boots or socks (called "khuff"), of yellow morocco, and over
these the "baboog."
This dress, though chiefly designed for females of the higher classes,
i Called - " kab^db," or, more commonly, of the lower orders, represented in the engraving
" fcubfcib." ' in page 18.
3 This is similar in form to the tob of women
DRESS. 47
who are seldom seen in public on foot, is worn by many women who
cannot often afford so far to imitate their superiors as to hire an ass to
carry them. It is extremely inconvenient as a walking attire. View,
ing it as a disguise for whatever is attractive or graceful in the person
arid adornments of the wearer, we should not find fault with it for
being itself deficient in grace : we must remark, however, that, in one
respect, it fails in accomplishing its main purpose; displaying the
eyes, which are almost always beautiful ; making them to appear still
more so by concealing the other features, which are seldom of equal
beauty; and often causing the stranger to imagine a defective face
perfectly charming. The veil is of very remote antiquity; 1 but, from
the sculptures and paintings of the ancient Egyptians, it seems not
to have been worn by the females of that nation. In the present day,
even the female servants generally draw a portion of the head-veil
before the face in the presence of the men of the family whom they
serve, so as to leave only one eye visible.
The dress of a large proportion of those women of the lower orders
who are not of the poorest class consists of a pair of trousers or
drawers (similar in form to the shintiyan of the ladies, but generally
of plain white cotton or linen), a blue linen or cotton shirt (not quite
so full as that of the men), reaching to the feet, a burko' of a kind of
coarse black crape, 2 and a dark blue tarhah of muslin or linen. Some
wear, over the long shirt, or instead of the latter, a linen tob, of the
same form as that of the ladies : 8 and within the long shirt, some
wear a short white shirt ; and some, a sudeyree also, or an 'anteree.
The sleeves of the tob are often turned up over the head ; either to
prevent their being incommodious, or to supply the place of a tarhah. 4
In addition to these articles of dress, many women who are not of the
very poor classes wear, as a covering, a kind of plaid, similar in form
to the habarah, composed of two pieces of cotton, woven in small
chequers of blue and white, or cross stripes, with a mixture of red
at each end. It is called " milayeh :" 9 in general it is worn in the
same manner as the habarah ; but sometimes like the tarhah. 6 The
upper part of the black burko' is often ornamented with false pearls,
1 See Genesis, xxiv, 65 ; and Isaiah, iii. 23. See 5 For " mulaah."
also 1 Corinthians, xi. 10, and a marginal note on G There is a superior kind of milayeh, of silk,
that verse. ar *d of various colours ; but this is now seldom
8 Some of those who are descended from the worn. The two pieces which compose the mi-
Prophet wear a green burko'. layeh are sewed together, like those which compose
3 See the figure to the left in page 48. the habarah."
4 See the figure to the right in page 48.
imi
clad ta tli Ac.
50
CHAPTER I.
small gold coins, and other little flat ornaments of the same metal
(called "bark"); sometimes with a coral bead, and a gold coin
Ornamented black Veils. ( nly one of these (that to the right) is represented in its whole length.
beneath; also with some coins of base silver; and more commonly
with a pair of chain tassels, of brass or silver (called " 'oyoon "), attached
to the corners. A square black silk kerchief (called " 'asbeh "),
with a border of red and yellow, is bound round the head, doubled
A of sf
52 CHAPTER I.
diagonally, and tied with a single knot behind; or, instead of this,
the tarboosh and faroodeeyeh are worn, though by very few women
of the lower classes. The best kind of shoes worn by the females of
the lower orders are of red morocco, turned up, but generally round,
at the toes. The burko' and shoes are most common in Cairo, and
are also worn by many of the women throughout Lower Egypt ; but
in Upper Egypt, the burko is very seldom seen, and shoes are scarcely
less uncommon. To supply the place of the former, when necessary,
a portion of the tarhah is drawn before the face, so as to conceal nearly
all the countenance except one eye. Many of the women of the lower
orders, even in the metropolis, never conceal their faces. Throughout
the greater part of Egypt the most common dress of the women merely
consists of the blue shirt, or tob, and tarhah. In the southern parts
of Upper Egypt, chiefly above Akhmeem, 1 most of the women envelop
themselves in a large piece of dark-brown woollen stuff (called a
"hulaleeyeh"), wrapping it round the body, and attaching the upper
parts together over each shoulder * and a piece of the same they use
as a tarhah. This dull dress, though picturesque, is almost as dis-
guising as the blue tinge which, as I have before mentioned, the
women in these parts of Egypt impart to their lips. Most of the
women of the lower orders wear a variety of trumpery ornaments,
such as ear-rings, necklaces, bracelets, &c., and sometimes a nose-
ring. Descriptions and engravings of some of these ornaments will
be found in the Appendix.
The women of Egypt deem it more incumbent upon them to cover
the upper and back part of the head than the face ; and more requisite
to conceal the face than most other parts of the person. I have often
seen, in this country, women but half covered with miserable rags ;
and several times, females in the prime of womanhood, and others in
more advanced age, with nothing on the body but a narrow strip of
rag bound round the hips.
1 Said to be more properly called Ikhraeem. garment, an article of ancient Greek and Roman
! The reader will recognise, in this picturesque female attire.
CHAPTER II.
INFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION.
IN the rearing and general treatment of their children, the Muslims
are chiefly guided by the directions of their Prophet, and other
religious institutors. One of the first duties required to be performed
on the birth of a child is to pronounce the adan (or call to prayer) in
the infant's right ear ; and this should be done by a male. Some
persons also pronounce the ikameh (which is nearly the same as the
addn) in the left ear. 1 The object of each of these ceremonies is to
preserve the infant from the influence of the "ginn," or genii.
Another custom, observed with the same view, is to say, "In the
name of the Prophet and of his cousin 8 'Alee !"
It was a custom very common in Egypt, as in other Muslim coun-
tries, to consult an astrologer previously to giving a name to a child,
and to be guided by his choice ; but very few persons now conform
with this old usage : the father makes choice of a name for his son,
and confers it without any ceremony : a daughter is generally named
by her mother. Boys are often named after the Prophet (Mohammad,
Ahmad, or Mustafa 8 ), or some of the members of his family ('Alee,
Hasan, Hoseyn, &c.), or his eminent companions ('Omar, 'Osman,
'Amr, &c.), or some of the prophets and patriarchs of early times (as
Ibraheem, Is-hdk, Isma'eel, Yaakoob, Moosa, Daood, 4 Suleyman, &c.),
or receive a name signifying " Servant of God," " Servant of the Com-
passionate," " Servant of the Powerful," &c. ('Abd- Allah, >Abd-Er-
Rahman, ' Abd-El-K&dir) . Girls are mostly named after the wives or
the favourite daughter of the Arabian Prophet, or after others of his
family (as Khadeegeh, 'A'isheh, Am'neh, Fat'meh, Zeyneb), or are
distinguished by a name implying that they are " beloved," " blessed,"
1 For the words of the adan and the iljameh, 3 This name is pronounced "Mustafa," or,
see the pages referred to after these two words in more commonly, " Muijtaf ^"
the Index. 4 Thus commonly pronounced, for " Dawood."
2 Literally, " the son of his paternal uncle."
54 CHAFFER II.
"precious," &c. (Mahboobeh, Mebrookeh, Nefecseh), or the name
of a flower, or of some other pleasing object. 1
As the proper name does not necessarily or generally descend from
parent to child, persons are usually distinguished by one or more
surnames of the following kinds : a surname of relationship ; 2 as
"Aboo-'Alee" 8 (Father of 'Alee), "Ibn- Ahmad" (Son of Ahmad),
&c. i a surname of honour, or a nickname ? as " Noor-ed-Deen "
{The Light of the Religion), "Et-Taweel" (The Tall), &c. : an
appellation relating to country, birth-place, origin, family, sect, trade
or occupation, &c.; 5 as " Er-Rasheedee " (of the town of llasheed),
"Es-Sabbagh" (The Dyer), "Et-Tagir" (The Merchant). The
second kind of surname, and that relating to country &c., are often
inherited; thus becoming family-names. Each kind of surname is
now generally placed after the proper name.
The dress of the children of the middle and higher orders is similar
to that of the parents, but generally slovenly. The children of the
poor are either clad in a shirt and a cotton skull-cap or a tarboosh,
or (as is mostly the case in the villages) are left quite naked until the
age of six or seven years or more, unless a bit of rag can be easily
obtained to serve them as a partial covering. Those little girls who
have only a piece of ragged stuff not large enough to cover both the
head and body, generally prefer wearing it upon the head, and some-
times have the coquetry to draw a part of it before the face, as a veil,
while the whole body is exposed. Little ladies, four or five years of
age, mostly wear the white face-veil, like their mothers. When a boy
is two or three years old, or often earlier, his head is shaven ; a tuft
of hair only being left on the crown, and another over the forehead :
* In Cairo, it is the fashion to change the first out a great part of Egypt, on the first occasion oi'
five female names here mentioned, and the last, shaving a child's head, to slay a victim, generally
into Khaddoogeh, 'Eiyoosheh, Ammooneh, Fattoo- a goat, at the tomb of some saint in or near their
meh, Zennoobeh, and Neffooseh ; and gome other village, and to make a feast with the meat, of
names are changed to the same " measure " as which their friends, and any other persons who
these; which measure implies, in these cases, a please, partake. This is most common in Upper
superior degree of dignity. (The name of the Egypt, and among the tribes not very long
celebrated traveller Ibn-Battootah is erroneously established on the banks of the Nile. Their
written by European authors Ibn-Batootah, or Pagan ancestors in Arabia observed this custom,
Ibn-Batutah). and usually gave, as alms to the poor, the weight
* This is termed "kunyeh." of the hair in silver or gold. (This custom may
3 On an improper use of this kind of surname, perhaps throw some light on the statement in
see a note towards the close of Chapter iv. in this 2 Sam. xiv. 26, respecting Absalom's weighing the
work. hair of his head "when he polled it.") The
* Termed "lalpb." victim is called " 'alkali," and is offered as a
5 Termed " nisbeh," or "ism mensoobj" or an ransom for the child from hell The custom of
appellation resembling an " ism mensoob." shaving one part of a child's head and leaving
It is customary among the peasants through- another was forbidden by the Prophet.
INFANCY. 55
the heads of female ipfants are seldom shaven. The young children,
of both sexes, arc usually carried, by their mothers and nurses, not in
the arms, but on the shoulder, seated astride, 1 and sometimes, for a
short distance, on the hip.
In the treatment of their children, the women of the wealthier
classes are remarkable for their excessive indulgence; and the poor,
for the little attention they bestow, beyond supplying the absolute
wants of nature. The mother is prohibited, by the Muslim law, from
weaning her child before the expiration of two years from the period
of its birth, unless with the consent of her husband, which, I am told,
is generally given after the first year or eighteen months. In the
houses of the wealthy, the child, whether boy or girl, remains almost
constantly confined in the hareem (or the women's apartments), or,
at least, in the house : sometimes the boy continues thus an effemi-
nate prisoner until a master, hired to instruct him daily, has taught
him to read and write. But it is important to observe, that an affec-
tionate respect for parents and elders inculcated in the hareem fits the
boy for an abrupt introduction into the world, as will presently be
shewn. When the ladies go out to pay a visit, or to take an airing,
mounted on asses, the children generally go with them, each carried
by a female slave or servant, or seated between her knees upon the
fore part of the saddle ; the female attendants, as well as the ladies,
being usually borne by asses, and it being the custom of all the women
to sit astride. But it is seldom that the children of the rich enjoy this
slight diversion ; their health suffers from confinement and pampering,
and they are often rendered capricious, proud, and selfish. The women
of the middle classes are scarcely less indulgent mothers. The estima-
tion in which the wife is held by her husband, and even by her
acquaintance, depends, in a great degree, upon her fruitfulness, and
upon the preservation of her children ; for by men and women, rich
and poor, barrenness is still considered, in the East, a curse and a
reproach ; and it is regarded as disgraceful in a man to divorce,
without some cogent reason, a wife who has borne him a child, espe-
cially while her child is living. If, therefore, a woman desire her
husband's love, or the respect of others, her giving birth to a child is
a source of great joy to herself and him, and her own interest alone is
a sufficient motive for maternal tenderness. Very little expense is
required, in Egypt, for the maintenance of a numerous offspring. 2
i See Isaiah, xlix. 22. cap. 20), that the ancient Egyptians clothed and
8 It is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (lib. i. reared their children at a very trifling expense.
56 CHAPTER II.
However much the children are caressed and fondled, in general
they feel and manifest a most profound and praiseworthy respect for
their parents. Disobedience to parents is considered by the Muslims
as one of the greatest of sins, and classed, in point of heinousness,
with six other sins, which are idolatry, murder, falsely accusing
modest women of adultery, wasting the property of orphans, taking
usury, and desertion in an expedition against infidels. An undu-
tiful child is very seldom heard of among the Egyptians or the Arabs
in general. Among the middle and higher classes, the child usually
greets the father in the morning by kissing his hand, and then stands
before him in an humble attitude, with the left hand covered by the
right, to receive any order, or to await his permission to depart ; but
after the respectful kiss, is often taken on the lap ; and nearly the
same respect is shewn towards the mother. Other members of the
family, according to age, relationship, and station, are also similarly
regarded by the young; and hence arise that ease and propriety
with which a child, emerging from the hareem, conducts himself in
every society, and that loyalty which is often improperly regarded as the
result of Eastern despotism. 1 Sons scarcely ever sit, or eat, or smoke,
in the presence of the father, unless bidden to do so ; and they often
even wait upon him, and upon his guests, at meals and on other
occasions : they do not cease to act thus when they have become
men. I once partook of breakfast with an Egyptian merchant, before
the door of hi# house, in the month of Ramadan (and therefore a little
after sunset) ; and though every person who passed by, however poor,
was invited to partake of the meal, we were waited upon by two of my
host's sons ; the elder about forty years of age. As they had been
fasting during the whole of the day, and had as yet only taken a
draught of water, I begged the father to allow them to sit down and
eat with us : he immediately told them that they might do so ; but they
declined. The mothers generally enjoy, in a greater degree than the
fathers, the affection of their children ; though they do not receive
from them equal outward marks of respect. I have often known
servants to hoard their wages for their mothers, though seldom for
their fathers.
With the exception of those of the wealthier classes, the young
children in Egypt, though objects of so much solicitude, are generally
i The structure of Eastern government is but the enlargement of the paternal roof." (Urquhart's
Spirit of the East, vol. ii. p. 240.)
CIRCUMCISION. 57
very dirty, and shabbily clad. The stranger here is disgusted by the
sight of them, and at once condemns the modern Egyptians as a very
filthy people^ without requiring any other reason for forming such an
opinion of them ; but it is often the case that those children who are
most petted and beloved are the dirtiest, and worst clad. It is not un-
common to see, in the city in which I am writing, a lady shuffling along
in her ample tob and habarah of new and rich and glistening silks, and
one who scents the whole street with the odour of musk or civet as
she passes along, with all that appears of her person scrupulously clean
and delicate, her eyes neatly bordered with kohl applied in the most
careful manner, and the tip of a finger or two shewing the fresh dye
of the henna, and by her side a little boy or girl, her own child, with
a face besmeared with dirt, and with clothes appearing as though they
had been worn for months without being washed. Few things sur-
prised me so much as sights of this kind on my arrival in this country.
I naturally inquired the cause of what struck me as so strange and
inconsistent, and was informed that the affectionate mothers thus
neglected the appearance of their children, and purposely left them
unwashed, and clothed them so shabbily, particularly when they had
to take them out in public, from fear of the evil eye, which is exces-
sively dreaded, and especially in the case of children, since they are
generally esteemed the greatest of blessings, and therefore most likely
to be coveted. It is partly for the same reason that many of them
confine their boys so long in the hareem. Some mothers even dress
their young sons as girls, because the latter are less obnoxious to
envy.
The children of the poor have a yet more neglected appearance :
besides being very scantily clad, or quite naked, they are, in general,
excessively dirty : their eyes are frequently extremely filthy : it is com-
mon to see half-a-dozen or more flies in each eye, unheeded and unmo-
lested. The parents consider it extremely injurious to wash, or even
touch, the eyes, when they discharge that acrid humour which attracts
the flies : they even affirm that the loss of sight would result from
frequently touching or washing them when thus affected; though
washing is really one of the best means of alleviating the complaint.
At the age of about five or six years, or sometimes later, the boy
is circumcised. 1 Previously to the performance of this rite in the
metropolis and other towns of Egypt, the parents of the youth, if not
1 Among the peasants, not unfrcquently at the age of twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years.
I
58
CHAPTER II.
in indigent circumstances, generally cause him to be paraded through
several streets in the neighbourhood of their dwelling. They mostly
avail themselves of the occurrence of a bridal procession, to lessen
the expenses of the parade : and, in this case, the boy and his attend-
Parade previous to Circumcision.
ants lead the procession. He generally wears a red Kashrneer turban ;
but, in other respects, is dressed as a girl, with a yelek and saltah, and
with a kurs, safa, and other female ornaments, to attract the eye, and
so divert it from his person. 1 These articles of dress are of the richest
1 For a description of the ornaments here mentioned, sec the Appendix: the kur$ and safa are also
represented in a preceding engraving 1 , page 44.
EARLY EDUCATION. 59
description that can be procured: they are usually borrowed from
some lady, and much too large to fit the boy. A horse, handsomely
caparisoned, is also borrowed to convey him; and in his hand is
placed a folded embroidered handkerchief, which he constantly holds
before his mouth in his right hand, to hide part of his face, and thus
protect himself from the evil eye. He is preceded by a servant of the
barber, who is the operator, and by three or more musicians, whose
instruments are commonly a hautboy and drums. The foremost
person in the procession is generally the barber's servant, bearing
his "heml," which is a case of wood, of a semi-cylindrical form, with
four short legs ; its front (the flat surface) covered with pieces of look-
ing-glass and embossed brass ; and its back, with a curtain. This is
merely the barber's sign : the servant carries it in the manner repre-
sented in the engraving here inserted. The musicians follow next (or
some of them precede the "heml"), and then follows the boy; his
horse led by a groom. Behind him walk several of his female rela-
tions and friends. Two boys are often paraded together, and some-
times borne by one horse. Of the bridal processions, with which
that above described is so often united, an account will be found in
the proper place. A description, also, of some further customs observed
on the occasion of a circumcision, and particularly of a more genteel
but less general mode of celebrating that event, will be given in
another chapter, relating to various private festivities. 1
The parents seldom devote much of their time or attention to the
intellectual education of their children ; generally contenting them-
selves with instilling into their young minds a few principles of
religion, and then submitting them, if they can afford to do so, to
the instruction of a schoolmaster. As early as possible, the child is
taught to say, "I testify that there is no deity but God; and I
testify that Mohammad is God's Apostle." He receives also lessons
of religious pride, and learns to hate the Christians, and all other
sects but his own, as thoroughly as does the Muslim in advanced age.
Most of the children of the higher and middle classes, and some of
those of the lower orders, are taught by the schoolmaster to read,
and to recite and chant 8 the whole or certain portions of the Kur-dn
i A custom mentioned by Strabo (p. 824), as if not equally prevalent, in Arabia. Reland, who
prevailing among the Egyptians in his time, is imperfectly describes this custom (De Eeligione
still universally practised in every part of Egypt, Mohammedica, p. 75, ed. 1717), remarks its
both by the Muslims and Copts, except in Alex- being mentioaed likewise by Galen,
andria and perhaps a few other places on the 8 See the Chapter on music,
shore of the Mediterranean : it is also common,
GO CHAPTER II.
by memory. 1 They afterwards learn the most common rules of
arithmetic.
Schools are very numerous, not only in the metropolis, but in every
large town ; and there is one, at least, in every considerable village.
Almost every mosque, "sebeel" (or public fountain), and "hod"
(or drinking-place for cattle) in the metropolis has a " kuttab " (or
school) attached to it, in which children are instructed for a very
trifling expense; the "sheykh" or "fikee" 8 (the master of the
school) receiving from the parent of each pupil half a piaster (about
five farthings of our money), or something more or less, every Thurs-
day. 3 The master of a school attached to a mosque or other public
building in Cairo also generally receives yearly a tarboosh, a piece of
white muslin for a turban, a piece of linen, and a pair of shoes ; and
each boy receives, at the same time, a linen skull-cap, four or five
cubits 4 of cotton cloth, and perhaps half a piece (ten or twelve cubits)
of linen, and a pair of shoes, and, in some cases, half a piaster ov a
A Schoolboy learning the Alphabet.
piaster. These presents arc supplied by funds bequeathed to the
school, and are given in the month of Ramadan. The boys attend
only during the hours of instruction, and then return to their homes.
1 It has been said that I have represented the to a person versed in religion and law ; a man
Egyptian boys as being very generally perfect in who merely recites the ur-an, &c., professionally,
understanding the IjTur-an. If the reader can find or who teaches others to do so, being commonly
in this, work any expression implying so monstrous called a " fikec."
an untruth, I shall be obliged if he will erase it. 3 Friday, being the sabbath of the Muslims, is
I have stated, in Chapter ix., that the exposition a holiday to the school-boys and fikee.
of thoKur-an is a branch of collegiate education. * The cubit employed in measuring Egyptian
2 This term is a corruption of"*' fakeeh," which cloths is equal to twenty-two inches and two-
latter appellation is generally given in Egypt only thirds.
EARLY EDUCATION. 61
The lessons are generally written upon tablets of wood, painted white ;
and when one lesson is learnt, the tablet is washed and another is
written. They also practise writing upon the same tablet. The school-
master and his pupils sit upon the ground, and each boy has his tablet
in his hands, or a copy of the Kur-dn, or of one of its thirty sections,
on a little kind of desk of palm-sticks. All the boys, in learning to
read, recite or chant their lessons aloud, at the same time rocking
their heads or bodies incessantly backwards and forwards; which
practice is observed by almost all persons in reciting the Kur-an;
being thought to assist the memory. The noise may be imagined. 1
The boys first learn the letters of the alphabet ; next, the vowel-
points and other syllabical signs; and then, the numerical value of
each letter of the alphabet. 2 Previously to this third stage of the
pupil's progress, it is customary for the master to ornament the tablet
with black and red ink, and green paint,, and to write upon it the
letters of the alphabet in the order of their respective numerical
values, and convey it to the father, who returns it with a piaster or
two placed upon it. The like is also done at several subsequent
stages of the boy's progress, as when he begins to learn the Kur-^n,
and six or seven times as he proceeds in learning the sacred book ;
each time the next lesson being written on the tablet. When he has
become acquainted with the numerical values of the letters, the master
writes for him some simple words, as the names of men; then, the
ninety-nine names or epithets of God : next, the Fat'hah (or opening
chapter of the Kur-an) is written upon his tablet, and he reads it
repeatedly until he has perfectly committed it to memory. He then
proceeds to learn the other chapters of the Kur-an : after the first
chapter he learns the last ; then the last but one ; next the last but
two, and so on, in inverted order, ending with the second ; as the
chapters in general successively decrease in length from the second
to the last inclusively. It is seldom that the master of a school
teaches writing ; and few boys learn to write unless destined for some
employment which absolutely requires that they should do so; in which
latter case they are generally taught the art of writing, and likewise
arithmetic, by a " kabbanee," who is a person employed to weigh
goods in a market or bazttr, with the steelyard. Those who are to
i The usual punishment is beating on the soles When thus used, they are arranged in the order
of the feet with a palm-stick. of the Hebrew alphabet.
* The Arabic letters are often used as numerals.
62 CHAPTER II.
devote themselves to religion, or to any of the learned professions,
mostly pursue a regular course of study in the great mosque El-
Azhar.
The schoolmasters in Egypt are mostly persons of very little learn-
ing : few of them are acquainted with any writings except the Kur-&n,
and certain prayers, which, as well as the contents of the sacred
volume, they are hired to recite on particular occasions. I was lately
told of a man who could neither read nor write succeeding to the office
of a schoolmaster in my neighbourhood. Being able to recite the
whole of the Kur-an, he could hear the boys repeat their lessons : to
write them, he employed the "'areef" (op head-boy and monitor in
the school), pretending that his eyes were weak. A few days after
he had taken upon himself this office, a poor woman brought a letter
for him to read to her from her son, who had gone on pilgrimage.
The fikee pretended to read it, but said nothing ; and the woman,
inferring from his silence that the letter contained bad news, said to
him, "Shall I shriek?" He answered, "Yes.'? " Shall I tear my
clothes V 9 she asked ; he replied, " Yes." So the poor woman returned
to her house, and with her assembled friends performed the lamenta-
tion and other ceremonies usual on the occasion of a death. Not
many days after this, her son arrived, and she asked him what he
could mean by causing a letter to be written stating that 'he was
dead ? He explained the contents of the letter, and she went to the
schoolmaster and begged him to inform her why he had told her to
shriek and to tear her clothes, since the letter was to inform her that
her son was well, and he was now arrived at home. Not at all
abashed, he said, " God knows futurity. How could I know that
your son would arrive in safety? It was better that you should
think him dead than be led to expect to see him and perhaps be
disappointed." Some persons who were sitting with him praised
his wisdom, exclaiming, " Truly, our new fikee is a man of unusual
judgment I" and, for a little while, he found that he had raised his
reputation by this blunder. 1
Some parents employ a sheykh or fikee to teach their boys at
home. The father usually teaches his son to perform the " wudoo,"
1 I have since found an anecdote almost exactly formant's account is not strictly true, or the man
similar to the above hi the Cairo edition of the alluded to by him was, in the main, an imitator :
'Thousand and One Nights ;' it is one of the the latter is not improbable, as I have been
anecdotes appended to Chapter xviii. of my trans- credibly informed of several similar imitations,
lation of that work : therefore either my in- and of one which I know to be a fact.
EARLY EDUCATION. 63
and other ablutions, and to say his prayers, and instructs him in other
religious and moral duties to the best of his ability. The Prophet
directed his followers to order their children to say their prayers when
seven years of age, and to beat them if they failed to do so when ten
years old; and at the latter age to make them sleep in separate beds.:
in Egypt, however, very few persons pray before they have attained to
manhood.
The female children are very seldom taught to read or write ; and
not many of them, even among the higher orders, learn to say their
prayers. Some of the rich engage a " sheykhah " (or learned woman)
to visit the hareem daily ; to teach their daughters and female slaves
to say their prayers, and to recite a few chapters of the Kur-an ; and
sometimes to instruct them in reading and writing ; but these are very
rare accomplishments for females even of the highest class in Egypt. 1
There are many schools in which girls are taught plain needlework,
embroidery, &c. In families in easy circumstances a " m'allimeh," 2
or female teacher of such kinds of work, is often engaged to attend
the girls at their own home.
i The young daughters of persons of the middle seen a well-dressed girl reading the Rur-an hi a
classes are sometimes instructed with the boys in boys' school.
a public school; but they are usually veiled, and Thus pronounced, for " mo'allimeh."
hold no intercourse with the boys. I have often
CHAPTER III.
RELIGION AND LAWS.
As the most important branch of their education, and the main
foundation of their manners and customs, the religion and laws of the
people who are the subject of these pages must be well understood,
not only in their general principles, but in many minor points,
before we can proceed to consider their social condition and habits in
the state of manhood.
A difference of opinion among Muslims, respecting some points of
religion and law, has given 'rise to four parties, or persuasions, which
consider each other orthodox as to fundamental matters, and call
themselves "Sunnees," or followers of the Traditions, while they
designate all other Muslims by the term "Shiya'ees," or "Shee'ahs;"
and collectively, the " Shee'ah ;" signifying, according to their accepta-
tion, " Heretics." The Sunnees alone are the class which we have
to consider. The four parties, or persuasions, into which they arc
divided are the " ftanafees," " Shafe'ees," M&likees," ! and " Ham-
belees;" 8 so called from the names of the respective doctors whose
tenets they have adopted. The Turks are of the first persuasion,
which is the most reasonable: the inhabitants of Cairo, a small
proportion excepted (who are Hanafees), are either Sh&fe'ees or
M&likees ; and it is generally said that they are mostly of the former
of these persuasions, as are also the people of Arabia : those of the
Sharkeeyeh, on the east of the Delta, Shafe'ees : those of the Ghar-
beeyeh, or Delta, Shafe'ees, with a few Malikees: those of the.
Boheyreh, on the west of the Delta, Malikees: the inhabitants of
the Sa'eed, or the valley of Upper Egypt, are likewise, with few
exceptions, Malikees : so too are the Nubians, and the Western
Arabs. To the fourth persuasion, very few persons in the present day
belong. All these persuasions agree in deriving their code of religion
1 Commonly pronounced " Mul'kcc.' 1 * Pronounced " Hambel'ee."
DOGMAS OP RELIGION. f?5
and law from four sources; namely, the Kur-dn, the Traditions of
the Prophet, the concordance of his early disciples, and analogy.
The religion which Mohammad taught is generally called by the
Arabs "El-Isl&m." "Eeman" and "Been" are the particular
terms applied, respectively, to faith and practical religion.
The grand principles of the faith are expressed in two articles;
the first of which is this
" There is no deity but Gf-od"
God, who created all things in heaven and in earth, who pre-
serveth all things, and decreeth all things, who is without beginning,
and without end, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, is one.
His unity is thus declared in a short chapter of the Kur-an : l " Say,
He is God; one [God]. God is the Eternal. He begetteth not,
nor is He begotten ; and there is none equal unto Him." He hath
no partner, nor any offspring, in the creed of the Muslim. Though
our Lord Jesus Christ (whose name should not be mentioned without
adding "on whom be peace") is believed to have been born of a
pure virgin, by the miraculous operation of God, 2 without any natural
father, and to be the Messiah, and "the Word of God, which He-
transmitted unto Mary, and a Spirit [proceeding] from Him," 3 yet
He is not called the Son of God ; and no higher titles are given to
Him than those' of a Prophet and an Apostle : He is even considered
as of inferior dignity to Mohammad, inasmuch as the Gospel is held
to be superseded by the Kur-a'n. The Muslim believes that Seyyidna
'Eesa 4 (or "our Lord Jesus"), after He had fulfilled the object of
his mission, was taken up unto God from the Jews, who sought to
slay Him ; and that another person, on whom God had stamped the
likeness of Christ, was crucified in his stead. 5 He also believes that
Christ is to come again upon the earth, to establish the Muslim
religion, and perfect peace and security, after having killed Antichrist,
and to be a sign of the approach of the last day.
i Ch. 112. In quoting passages in the Fur-an, numbers to agree with those in the late edition of
I have sometimes followed Sale's translation j to the Arabic text by Fluegel, which, from its supe-
the general fidelity of which I willingly add my rior accuracy, is likely to supersede the former
testimony. I should, however, mention that editions,
some of his explanatory notes are unauthorized a Jur-a"n, ch. iii, vv. 4042.
and erroneous : as, for instance, with respect to 3 ur-an, ch. iv. v. 169.
the laws of inheritance; on which subject his * The title of "Seyyidna" (our Lord) is given
version of the text also is faulty. When neces- by the Muslims to prophets and other venerated
sary, I have distinguished the verses by numbers. persons.
In doing this I had originally adopted the divi- 5 lur-an, ch, iv. v. 156.
sions made by Marracci, but have since made the
K
66 CHAPTER III.
The other grand article of the faith, which cannot be believed
without the former, is this
" Mohammad is God's Apostle."
Mohammad is believed, by his followers, to have been the last
and greatest of Prophets and Apostles. 1 Six of these, namely, Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad, are believed each to
have received a revealed law, or system of religion and morality.
That, however, which was revealed to Adam was abrogated by the
next; and each succeeding law, or code of laws, abrogated the
preceding; though all are believed to have been the same in every
essential point : therefore, those who professed the Jewish religion
from the time of Moses to that of Jesus were true believers; and
those who professed the Christian religion (uncorrupted, as the
Muslims say, by the tenet that Christ was the son of God,) until the
time of Mohammad are held, in like manner, to have been true
believers. But the copies of the Pentateuch, the Psalms of David
(which the Muslims also hold to be of divine origin), and the Gospels
now existing, are believed to have been so much altered as to contain
very little of the true word of God. The Kur-an is commonly
believed to have suffered no essential alteration whatever.
It is further necessary that the Muslim should believe in the
existence of angels, and of good and evil genii ; the evil genii being
devils, whose chief is Iblees : 2 also, in the immortality of the soul,
the general resurrection and judgment, in future rewards and
punishments in Paradise 3 and Hell, 4 in the balance in which good
and evil works shall be weighed, and in the bridge "Es-Sintt"
(which extends over the midst of Hell, finer than a hair, and sharper
than the edge of a sword), over which all must pass, and from which
the wicked shall fall into Hell. He believes, also, that they who
have acknowledged the faith of El-Isl&m and yet acted wickedly will
not remain in Hell for ever ; but that all of other religions must :
that there are, however, degrees of punishments, as well as of rewards ;
the former consisting in severe torture by excessive heat and cold;
and the latter, partly in the indulgence of the appetites by most
1 The Muslim seldom mentions the name of the opinion, Theirs is also the general opinion of the
Prophet without adding, " Salla-llAhu 'aleyhi wa- modern Arabs. The angelic nature is considered
sellem :" i. e., " God bless and save him !" as inferior to the human (because the angels
a In the first edition of this work, I here men- were commanded to prostrate themselves before
tioned the Devil as distinct from the genii j but I Adam), and still more so is the nature of genii,
have since found that the majority of the most 3 " El-Genneh," or " the garden."
esteemed Arab authors are of the contrary * ' Gahennem."
DOGMAS OP RELIGION. 67
delicious meats and drinks, and in the pleasures afforded by the
company of the girls of Paradise, whose eyes will be very large and
entirely black, 1 and whose stature will be proportioned to that of the
men, which will be the height of a tall palm-tree, or about sixty feet.
Such, the Muslims generally believe, was the height of Adam and
Eve. It is said that the souls of martyrs reside, until the judgment,
in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits of Paradise and
drink of its rivers. 2 Women are not to be excluded from Paradise,
according to the faith of El- Islam ; though it has been asserted, by
many Christians, that the Muslims believe women to have no 'souls.
In several places in the Kur-an, Paradise is promised to all true
believers, whether males or females. It is the doctrine of the Kur-an
that no person will be admitted into Paradise by his own merits ; but
that admission will be granted to the believers merely by the mercy
of God, on account of their faith ; yet that the felicity of each person
will be proportioned to his good works. The very meanest in
Paradise is promised " eighty thousand servants " (beautiful youths,
called "weleeds" 3 ), "seventy-two wives of the girls of Paradise"
("hooreeyehs" 4 ), " besides the wives he had in this world/' if he
desire to have the latter (and the good will doubtless desire the good),
" and a tent erected for him of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds, of a
very large extent/' "and will be waited on by three hundred
attendants while he eats, and served in dishes of gold, whereof three
hundred shall be set before him at once, each containing a different
kind of food, the last morsel of which will be as grateful as the first."
Wine also, " though forbidden in this life, will yet be freely allowed
to be drunk in the next, and without danger, since the wine of
Paradise will not inebriate." 5 We are further told, that all super-
fluities from the bodies of the inhabitants of Paradise will be carried
off by perspiration, which will diffuse an odour like that of musk ;
and that they will be clothed in the richest silks, chiefly of green.
They are also promised perpetual youth, and children as many as
they may desire. These pleasures, together with the songs of the
angel Israfeel, and many other gratifications of the senses, will charm
1 Liko those of the gazelle : this meaning of of dysentery, to a person who has been drowned,
their common appellation (which is mentioned and to one who has been killed by the faU of any
afterwards) is, however, disputed. building.
2 The title of martyr is given to the unpaid 3 Or " wilda"n."
soldier killed in a war for the defence of the faith, * Or " el-hoor el-'een," or " el-hoor el-'oyoon."
to a person who has innocently met with his 5 See Sale's Preliminary Discourse to his Trans*
death from the hand of another, to a victim of lation of the l^ur-a'n, sect. iv.
the plague (if he has not fled from the disease) or
68 CHAPTER III.
even the meanest inhabitant of Paradise. But all these enjoyments
will be lightly esteemed by those more blessed persons who are to be
admitted to the highest of all honours, that spiritual pleasure of
beholding, morning and evening, the face of God. 1 The Muslim
must also believe in the examination of the dead in the sepulchre, by
two angels, called Munkar and Nekeer, 2 of terrible aspect, who will
cause the body (to which the soul shall, for the time, be reunited,)
to sit upright in the grave/ and will question the deceased respecting
his faith. The wicked they will severely torture ; but the good they
will not hurt. Lastly, he should believe in God's absolute decree of
every event, both good and evil. This doctrine has given rise to as
much controversy among the Muslims as among Christians ; but the
former, generally, believe in predestination as, in some respects,
conditional.
The most important duties enjoined in the ritual and moral laws
are prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage.
The religious purifications, which are of two kinds, first, the
ordinary ablution preparatory to prayer, and secondly, the washing of
the whole body, together with the performance of the former ablution,
are of primary importance : for prayer, which is a duty so im-
portant that it is called " the Key of Paradise," will not be accepted
from a person in a state of uncleanness. It is therefore also
necessary to avoid impurity by clipping the nails, and other similar
practices. 4
There are partial washings, or purifications, which all Muslims
perform on certain occasions, even if they neglect their prayers, and
which are considered as religious acts. 5 The ablution called "el-
wudoo," which is preparatory to prayer, I shall now describe. The
purifications just before alluded to are a part of the wudoo : the other
washings are not, of necessity, to be performed immediately after, but
only when the person is about to say his prayers ; and these are per-
formed in the mosque or in the house, in public or in private. There
is in every mosque a tank (called " meydaah ") or a " hanafceyeh,"
which is a raised reservoir, with spouts round it, from which the
1 A Muslim of some learning professed to me 3 The corpse is always deposited in a vault, and
that he considered the description of Paradise not placed in a coffin, but merely wrapped in
given in the J^ur-dn to be, in a great measure, winding-sheets or clothes,
figurative : " like those," said he, " in the book of * Alluded to in the first chapter,
the Revelation of St. John ;" and he assured mo 5 For an account of these private ablutions,
that many learned Muslims wore of the same and the occasions which require their perform-
opiuion. ance, the reader may consult Reland, De Rel.
* Vulgarly called " Nakir " and " Nekeer," Moh. pp. 80-83, ed. 1717.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS.
61)
water falls. In some mosques there are both these. The Muslims
of the Hanafee sect (of which are the Turks) perform the ablution at
the latter (which has received its name from that cause); for they
must do it with running water, or from a tank or pool at least ten
cubits in breadth, and the same in depth ; and I believe that there is
only one meydaah in Cairo of that depth, which is in the great
mosque El-Azhar. A small hanafeeyeh of tinned copper, placed on a
low shelf, and a large basin, or a small ewer and basin of the same
metal, are generally used in the house for the performance of the
wucloo.
Vessels for Ablution. The upper vessel (or hanafeeyeh) is generally about a foot and a half in lu-iyht.
The person, having tucked up his sleeves a little higher than his
elbows, says, in a low voice, or inaudibly, " I purpose performing the
wudoo, for prayer." l He then washes his hands three times ; saying,
in the same manner as before, "In the name of God, the Com-
passionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God, who hath sent down
water for purification, and made El-Islam to be a light and a con-
ductor, and a guide to thy gardens, the gardens of delight, and to thy
mansion, the mansion of peace." Then he rinses his mouth three
i All persons do not use exactly the same words
on this occasion, nor during the performance of
the wudoo; and most persons use no words during
the performance.
70 CHAPTER III.
times, throwing the water into it with his right hand ; l and in doing
this he says, " God, assist me in the reading of thy book, and in
commemorating Thee, and in thanking Thee, and in worshipping
Thee well." Next, with his right hand, he throws water up his
nostrils (snuffing it up at the same time), and then blows it out,
compressing his nostrils with the thumb and finger of the left hand ;
and this also is done three times. While doing it, he says, " God,
make me to smell the odours of- Paradise, and bless me with its de-
lights; and make me not to smell the smell of the fires [of Hell]."
He then washes his face three times, throwing up the water with both
hands, and saying, " O God/ whiten my face with thy light, on the
day when Thou shalt whiten the faces of thy favourites ; and do not
blacken my face, on the day when Thou shalt blacken the faces of
thine enemies/' 8 His right hand and arm, as high as the elbow, he
next washes three times, and as many times causes some water to run
along his arm, from the palm of the hand to the elbow, saying, as he
does this, " God, give me my book in my right hand ; 8 and reckon
with me with an easy reckoning." In the same manner he washes
the left hand and arm, saying, " God, do not give me my book in
my left hand, nor behind my back ; and do not reckon with me with
a difficult reckoning; nor make me to be one of the people of the
fire." He next draws his wetted right hand over the upper part of
his head, raising his turban or cap with his left : this he does but
once ; and he accompanies the action with this supplication, " God,
cover me with thy mercy, and pour down thy blessing upon me ; and
shade me under the shadow of thy canopy, on the day when there
shall be no shade but its shade." If he has a beard, he then combs
it with the wetted fingers of his right hand ; holding his hand with
the palm forwards, and passing the fingers through his beard from
the throat upwards. He then puts the tips of his forefingers into
his ears, and twists them round, passing his thumbs at the same time
round the back of the ears, from the bottom upwards; and saying,
" God, make me to be of those who hear what is said, and obey
what is best;" or, "O God, make me to hear good." Next he wipes
1 He should also use a tooth-stick (miswdk) to 3 To every man is appropriated a book, in which
clean his teeth j but few do so. all the actions of his life are written. The just
2 It is believed that the good man will rise to man, it is said, will receive his book in his right
judgment with his face white; and the bad, with hand ; but the wicked, in his left, which will be
his face black. Hence a man's face is said to bo tied behind his back; his right hand being tied
white or black according as he is in good or bad up to his neck.
repute; and "may God blacken thy face!" is a
common imprecation.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 71
his neck with the back of the fingers of both hands, making the ends
of his fingers meet behind his neck, and then drawing them forward ;
and in doing so, he says, " God, free my neck from the fire ; and
keep me from the chains, and the collars, and the fetters." Lastly,
he washes his feet, as high as the ankles, and passes his fingers between
the toes : he washes the right foot first, saying, at the same time, "
God, make firm my feet upon the Sirdt, on the day when feet shall
slip upon it :" on washing the left foot, he says, " O God, make my
labour to be approved, and my sin forgiven, and my works accepted,
merchandise that shall not perish, by thy pardon, Mighty, very
Forgiving; by thy mercy, most Merciful of those who shew mercy."
After having thus completed the ablution, he says, looking towards
heaven, " Thy perfection, God, [I extol] with thy praise : I testify
that there is no deity but Thou alone : Thou hast no companion : I
implore thy forgiveness, and turn to Thee with repentance." Then,
looking towards the earth, he adds, " I testify that there is no deity
but God : and I testify that Mohammad is his servant and his apostle."
Having uttered these words, he should recite, once, twice, or three
times, the f< Soorat el-Kadr," or 97th chapter of the Kur-dn.
The wudo6 is generally performed in less than two minutes ; most
persons hurrying through the act, as well as omitting almost all the
prayers, &c., which should accompany and follow the actions. It is
not required before each of the five daily prayers, when the person is
conscious of having avoided every kind of impurity since the last per-
formance of this ablution. When water cannot be easily procured, or
would be injurious to the health of the individual, he may perform the
ablution with dust or sand. This ceremony is called "tayemmum."
The person, in this case, strikes the palms of his hands upon any dry
dust or sand (it will suffice to do so upon his cloth robe, as it must
contain some dust), and, with both hands, wipes his face : then, having
struck his hands again upon the dust, he wipes his right hand and
arm as high as the elbow ; and then, the left hand and arm, in the
same manner. This completes the ceremony. The washing of the
whole body is often performed merely for the sake of cleanliness ; but
not as a religious act, except on particular occasions, as on the morn-
ing of Friday, and on the two grand festivals, &c., 1 when it is called
" ghusl." f
1 Here, again, I must beg to refer the reader quire its performance. De Bel. Moh. pp. 6677,
(if he desire such information) to Reland's ac- ed. 1717.
count of the ghusl, and the occasions which re-
72 CHAPTER III.
Cleanliness is required not only in the worshipper, but also in the
ground, mat, carpet, robe, or whatever else it be, upon which he prays.
Persons of the lower orders often pray upon the bare ground, which
is considered clean if it be dry ; and they seldom wipe off immediately
the dust which adheres to the nose and forehead in prostration ; for it
is regarded as ornamental to the believer's face : but when a person has
a cloak or any other garment that he can take off without exposing
his person in an unbecoming manner, he spreads it upon the ground
to serve as a prayer-carpet. The rich use a prayer-carpet (called
"segg^deh") about the size of a wide hearth-rug, having a niche
represented upon it, the point of which is turned towards Mekkeh. 1
It is reckoned sinful to pass near before a person engaged in prayer.
When so engaged, the Muslim should station himself a few feet before
a wall or the like, or should place before him a " sutrah," which may
be a staff stuck upright or (if the ground is hard) laid horizontally,
or a whip, or his saddle, or his shoes ; in order that no living being,
nor any image, may be the object next before him. 2 If he has nothing
to place as a "sutrah," he should draw a line on the ground before him.
Prayer is called " salah " thus commonly pronounced for " salah."
Five times in the course of every day is its performance required of
the Muslim : but there are comparatively few persons in Egypt who
do not sometimes, or often, neglect this duty; and there are many
who scarcely ever pray. Certain portions of the ordinary prayers are
called "fard," which are 'appointed by the Kur-dn; and others,
" suriheh," which are appointed by the Prophet, without allegation of
a divine order.
The first time of prayer commences at the " maghrib," or sunset, 3
or rather, about four minutes later; the second, at the "'eshe," or
nightfall, when the evening has closed, and it is quite dark ; 4 the
1 Segga*dehs, of the kind here described, are authorized English version signify also "before,"
now sold in London, under the name of " Persian and "to," or " towards :" and the Hebrew prepo-
carpets" or "Persian rugs." sition in question, preceded by the same Verb that
* This was probably a custom of the Jews in precedes it in the instance in Gen. xlvii. 31, is
Arabia, and borrowed from them by Mohammad ; rendered " unto " in Lev. xxvi. 1, a strikingly
and it may explain a difficulty which has much apposite passage.
perplexed the commentators of the Bible, hi Gen. * I have called this the first, because the Mo-
xlvii. 31. I think that the pointing of the Hebrew hammadan day commences from sunset; but the
text is there manifestly wrong, as many critics morning-prayer is often termed the first j the
have supposed; and that the true meaning will prayer of noon, the second ; and so on.
now be seen to be, "Israel worshipped," or ^The'eshe of the Shafe'ees,Malikees,andHam-
" bowed himself," "before," or "toward," "the belees, is when the red gleam (" esh-shafaV el-
head of the staff ;" agreeably with the rendering ahmar") after sunset has disappeared ; and that
of the Septuagint, and with Hcbr. xi. 21. The O f the Hanafees, when both the red and the white
Hebrew and Greek prepositions which are ren- gleam have disappeared,
dered "upon" in both these instances in the
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 73
third, at the "subh" or "fegr ;"'. e., daybreak; 1 the fourth, at the
" duhr," or noon, or, rather, a little later, when the sun has begun to
decline ; the fifth, at the " 'asr," or afternoon ; i. e. y about mid-time
between noon and nightfall. 2 Each period of prayer ends when the
next commences, except that of daybreak, which ends at sunrise.
The Prophet would not have his followers commence their prayers at
sunrise, nor exactly at noon or sunset, because, he said, infidels wor-
shipped the sun at such times.
Should the time of prayer arrive when they are eating, or about to
eat, they are not to rise to prayer till they have finished their meal.
The prayers should be said as nearly as possible at the commence-
ment of the periods above mentioned : they may be said after, but not
before. The several times of prayer are announced by the " mueddin "
of each mosque. Having ascended to the gallery of the " mdd'neh,"
or menaret, he chants the "adan," or call to prayer, which is as
follows : " God is most Great " (this is said four times). t( I testify
that there is no deity but God" (twice). "I testify that Mohammad
is God's Apostle" (twice). "Come to prayer" (twice). "Come to
security" (twice). 8 "God is most Great" (twice). "There is no
deity but God." Most of the mueddins of Cairo have harmonious
and sonorous voices, which they strain to the utmost pitch : yet there
is a simple and solemn melody in their chants which is very striking,
particularly in the stillness of night. 4 Blind men are generally pre-
ferred for the office of mueddins, that the hareems and terraces of
surrounding houses may not be overlooked from the mad'nehs.
Two other calls to prayers are made during the night, to rouse
those persons who desire to perform supererogatory acts of devotion. 5
A little after midnight, the mueddins of the great royal mosques in
Cairo (i. e., of each of the great mosques founded by a Sultan, which
is called " G&me' Sul^anee "), and of some other large mosques, ascend
the m&d'nehs, and chant the following call, which, being one of the
two night-calls not at the regular periods of obligatory prayers, is
called the " Oola," a term signifying merely the " First." Having
i Generally on the first faint appearance of light to the ?anafees, when the shadow is equal to
in the east. The JIanafees mostly perform the twice the length of the object, added to the length
morning-prayer a little later, when the yellow of its mid-day shadow.
gleam ("el-isfirar") appears : this they deem the 8 Here is added, in the morning-call, "Prayer
most proper time j but they may pray earlier. is better than sleep " (twice).
a The 'asr according to the SMfe'ees, Mdlikees, * A common air, to which the adan is chanted
and Hambelees, is when the shade of an object, in Cairo, will be given in the chapter on Egyptian
cast by the sun, is equal to the length of that music,
object, added to the length of the shade which * They are few who do so.
the same object casts at noon ; and, according
74 CHAFFER III.
commenced by chanting the common addn, with those words which
are introduced in the call to morning-prayer (" Prayer is better than
sleep "), he adds, " There is no deity but God " (three times) " alone :
He hath no companion: to Him belongeth the dominion; and to
Him belongeth praise. He giveth life, and causeth death; and He
is living, and shall never die. In his hand is blessing [or good] ;
and He is Almighty, There is no deity but God" (three times),
"and we will not worship any beside Him, ' serving Him with
sincerity of religion/ 1 ' though the infidels be averse' 2 [thereto].
This is no deity but God. Mohammad is the most noble of the
creation in the sight of God. Mohammad is the best prophet that
hath been sent, and a lord by whom his companions became lords ;
comely ; liberal of gifts ; perfect ; pleasant to the taste ; sweet ; soft
to the throat [or to be drunk]. Pardon, Lord, thy servant and
thy poor dependant, the endower of this place, and him who watcheth
it with goodness and beneficence, and its neighbours, and those who
frequent it at the times of prayers and good acts, thou Bountiful :
Lord " 3 (three times). " Thou art He who ceaseth not to be dis-
tinguished by mercy : Thou art liberal of thy clemency towards the
rebellious; and protectest him; and concealest what is foul; and
makest manifest every virtuous action ; and Thou bestowcst thy be-
neficence upon the servant, and comfortest him, thou Bountiful :
O Lord " (three times). " My sins, when I think upon them, [I see
to be] many ; but the mercy of my Lord is more abundant than are
my sins : I am not solicitous on account of good that I have done ;
but for the mercy of God I am most solicitous. Extolled be the
Everlasting. He hath no companion in his great dominion. His per-
fection [I extol] : exalted be his name: [I extol] the perfection of God."
About an hour before daybreak, the mueddins of most mosques
chant the second call, named the "Ebed," and so called from the
occurrence of that word near the commencement. 4 This call is as
follows : " [I extol] the perfection of God, the Existing for ever and
ever " (three times) : " the perfection of God, the Desired, the Exist-
ing, the Single, the Supreme : the perfection of God, the One, the
Sole: the perfection of Him who taketh to Himself, in his great
dominion, neither female coippanion, nor male partner, nor any like
unto Him, nor any that is disobedient, nor any deputy, nor any equal,
1 Kur-dn, ch. xcviii. v. 4. This thrice-uttered exclamation (" Y& Rabb I")
2 Idem, ch. ix. v. 32, and ch. M. v. 8. is made in a very loud tone.
4 The word "ebed" is here used adverbially, signifying "for ever."
RITUAL AND MORAL LAW8. 75
nor any offspring. His perfection [be extolled] : and exalted be his
name. He is a Deity who knew what hath been before it was, and
called into existence what hath been; and He is now existing as He
was [at the first]. His perfection [be extolled] : and exalted be his
name. He is a Deity unto whom there is none like existing. There
is none like unto God, the Bountiful, existing. There is none like
unto God, the Clement, existing. There is none like unto God, the
Great, existing. And there is no deity but Thou, our Lord, to be
worshipped and to be praised and to be desired and to be glorified.
[I extol] the perfection of Him who created all creatures, and num-
bered them, and distributed their sustenance, and decreed the terms
of the lives of his servants : and our Lord, the JBountiful, the Clement,
the Great, forgetteth not one of them. [I extol] the perfection of
Him who, of his power and greatness, caused the pure water to flow
from the solid stone, the mass of rock : the perfection of Him who
spake with our lord Moosa [or Moses] upon the mountain ; l where-
upon the mountain was reduced to dust, 2 through dread of God,
whose name be exalted, the One, the Sole. There is no deity but
God. He is a just Judge. [I extol] the perfection of the First.
Blessing and peace be on thee, O comely of countenance : O Apostle
of God. Blessing and peace be on thee, first of the creatures of
God, and seal of the apostles of God. Blessing and peace be on thee,
O thou Prophet : on thee and on thy Family, and all thy Companions.
God is most Great. God is most Great : " &c., to the end of the call
to morning-prayer. "0 God, bless and save and still beatify the
beatified Prophet, our lord Mohammad. And may God, whose name
be blessed and exalted, be well pleased with thee, our lord El-Hasan,
and with thee, our lord El-Hoseyn, and with thee, O Aboo-Farrag, 3
O Sheykh of the Arabs, and with all the favourites [the " welecs "]
of God. Amen."
The prayers which are performed daily at the five periods before
mentioned are said to be of so many " rek'ahs," or inclinations of the
head. 4
1 These words, "The perfection of Him who two fardj the noon, four sunneh and four fard;
spake," &c. ("subhdna men kellema," &c.), are the afternoon, the same? the evening, three far<J
pronounced in a very high and loud tone. and two sunneh ; and the night-prayers (or 'eshe),
2 See #ur-a*n, ch. vii. v. 139. four sunneh and four fard, and two sunneh again.
3 "Aboo-Farrag" is a surname of a famous After these are yet to be performed three rek'ahs
saint, the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, buried at "witrj" i. e. y single or separate prayers: these
Tanta in the Delta: ifr implies that he obtains re- may be performed immediately after the 'eshe
lief to those who visit his tomb, and implore his prayers, or at any time in the night ; but are
intercession. more meritorious if late in the night.
4 The morning-prayer*, two rek'ahs sunneh and
76
CHAPTER III.
The worshipper, standing with his face towards the Kibleh (that is,
towards Mekkeh), and his feet not quite close together, says, inaudibly,
that he has purposed to recite the prayers of so many rek'ahs (sunneh
or fard) the morning-prayers (or the noon, &c.,) of the present day
(or night) ; and then, raising his open hands on each side of his face,
and touching the lobes of his ears with the ends of his thumbs, he
says, " God is most Great " (" Alldhu Akbar "). This ejaculation is
s
t*
Postures of Prayer.
called the " tekbeer." He then proceeds to recite the prayers of the
prescribed number of rck'ahs, 1 thus :
Still standing, and placing his hands before him, a little below
his girdle, the left within the right, he recites (with his eyes directed
towards the spot where his head will touch the ground in prostration)
the Fat'hah; or opening chapter of the Kur-dn, 2 and after it three or
more other verses, or one of the short chapters, of the ICur-an ; very
1 There are some little differences in the atti-
tudes of the four great sects during prayer. I
describe those of the IJanafees. -The two cuts
here inserted comprise the postures of two rek'ahs;
the first rek'ah ending with No. 8.
8 Some persons previously utter certain super-
erogatory ejaculations, expressive of the praise
and glory of God ; and add, " I seek refuge with
God from Satan the accursed;" which petition is
often offered up before reciting any part of the
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS.
77
commonly the 112th chapter ; but without repeating the " besmeleh "
(in the name of God, &c.,) before the second recitation. He then
says, " God is most Great :" and makes, at the same time, an inclina-
tion of his head and body, placing his hands upon his knees, and
separating his fingers a little. In this posture he says, " [I extol]
the perfection of my Lord the Great " (three times), adding, " May
Postures of Prayer continued.
God hear him who praiseth Him. Our Lord, praise be unto Thee."
Then, raising his head and body, he repeats, " God is most Great."
He next drops gently upon his knees, and, saying again, " God is
most Great," places his hands upon the ground, a little before his
knees, and puts his nose and forehead also to the ground (the former
first), between his two hands. During this prostration he says, " [I
extol] the perfection of my Lord the Most High" (three times). He
raises his head and body (but his knees remain upon the ground),
ftur-an on other occasions, as commanded by the
Kur-dn itself (ch. xvi. v. 100). The Kur-tCn is
usually recited, in the far<J prayers, in a voice
slightly audible, except at noon and the 'asr,
when it is recited inaudibly. By Imims, when
praying at the head of others, and sometimes by
persons praying alone, it is chanted. In the sun-
neh prayers it is recited inaudibly.
78 CHAPTER III.
sinks backwards upon his heels, and places his hands upon his thighs,
saying, at the same time, " God is most Great :" and this he repeats as
he bends his head a second time to the ground. During this second
prostration he repeats the same words as in the first ; and in raising
his head again, he utters the tekbeer as before. Thus are completed
the prayers of one rek'ah. In all the changes of posture, the toes of
the right foot must not be moved from the spot where they were first
placed, and the left foot should be moved as little as possible.
Having finished the prayers of one rek'ah, the worshipper rises upon
his feet (but without moving his toes from the spot where they were,
particularly those of the right foot), and repeats the same ; only he
should recite some other chapter, or portion, after the Fdt'hah, than
that which he repeated before, as, for instance, the 108th chapter. 1
After every second rek'ah (and after the last, though there be an
odd number, as in the evening fard), he does not immediately raise
his knees from the ground, but bends his left foot under him, and
sits upon it, and places his hands upon his thighs, with the fingers a
little apart. In this posture, he says, "Praises are to God, and
prayers, and good works. Peace be on thee, Prophet, and the
mercy of God, and his blessings. Peace be on us, and on [all] the
righteous worshippers of God." Then raising the first finger of the
right hand 8 (but not the hand itself), he adds, " I testify that there
is no deity but God ; and I testify that Mohammad is his servant
and his apostle."
After the last rek'ah, of each of the prayers (that is, after the
sunneh prayers and the farcl alike), after saying, " Praises are to God,"
&c., the worshipper, looking upon his right shoulder, says, " Peace
be on you, and the mercy of God." Then looking upon the left, he
repeats the same. These salutations are considered by some as
addressed only to the guardian angels who watch over the believer,
and note all his actions ; 3 but others say that they are addressed both
to angels and men (i. e., believers only), who may be present ; no
person, however, returns them. Before the salutations in the last
i In the third and fourth far4 rek'ahs, the re- 2 The doctors of El-IsUm differ respecting the
citation of a second portion of the ICur-dn after proper position of the fingers of the right hand
the F&t'hah should be omitted; and before far4 on this occasion: some hold that all the fingers
prayers of four rek'ahs, the "ikameh" (which but the first are to be doubled, as represented in
consists of the words of the ad&n, with the addi- the second sketch of the postures of prayer,
tion of "the time of prayer is come," pronounced 8 Some say that every believer is attended by
twice after " come to security,") should be re- two angels j others say, five ; others, sixty, or a
peated ; but most persons neglect doing this, and hundred and sixty,
many do not observe the former rule.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 79
prayer, the worshipper may offer up any short petition (in Scriptural
language rather than his own); while he does so looking at the
palms of his two hands, which he holds like an open book before him,
and then draws over his face, from the forehead downwards.
Having finished both the sunneh and fard prayers, the worshipper,
if he would acquit himself completely, or rather, perform superero-
gatory acts, remains sitting (but may then sit more at his ease), and
recites the " Ayet el-Kursee," or Throne- Verse, which is the 256th
of the 2nd chapter of the Kur-an ; l and adds, " High ; Great :
thy perfection [I extol] ." He then repeats, "The perfection of
God" (thirty-three times). "The perfection of God the Great,
with his praise for ever" (once). "Praise be to God" (thirty-three
times). "Extolled be his dignity: there is no deity but He"
(once). " God is most Great " (thirty-three times). " God is most
Great in greatness, and praise be to God in abundance" (once).
He counts these repetitions with a string of beads called " sebhah "
(more properly "subhah"). The beads are ninety-nine, and have a
mark between each thirty-three. They are of aloes, or other odo-
riferous or precious wood, or of coral, or of certain fruit-stones, or
seeds, &c.
Any wandering of the eyes, or of the mind, a coughing, or the
like, answering a question, or any action not prescribed to be per-
formed, must be strictly avoided (unless it be between the sunneh
prayers and the fard, or be difficult to avoid ; for it is held allowable
to make three slight irregular motions, or deviations from correct
deportment) ; otherwise the worshipper must begin again, and repeat
his prayers with due reverence. It is considered extremely sinful to
interrupt a man when engaged in his devotions. The time usually
occupied in repeating the prayers of four rek'ahs, without the super-
erogatory additions, is less than four, or even three, minutes. The
Muslim says the five daily prayers in his house or shop or in the
mosque, according as may be most convenient to him : it is seldom
that a person goes from his house to the mosque to pray, except to
join the congregation on Friday. Men of the lower orders oftener
pray in the mosques than those who have a comfortable home, and
a mat or carpet upon which to pray.
The same prayers are said by the congregation in the mosque on
i Beginning with the words "God : there is no deity but Hej" and ending with, "ffe is the High,
the Great."
80
CHAPTER III.
the noon of Friday ; but there are additional rites performed by the
Imam and .other ministers on this occasion. The chief reasons for
fixing upon Friday as the Sabbath of the Muslims were, it is said,
because Adam was created on that day, and died on the same day of
the week, and because the general resurrection was prophesied to
happen on that day; whence, particularly, Friday was named the
day of "El-Gum'ah" (or the assembly). The' Muslim does not
abstain from worldly business on Friday, except during the time of
prayer, according to the precept of the Kur-a*n, ch. Ixii. vv. 9
and 10.
Interior of a Mosque.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 81
To form a proper conception of the ceremonials of the Friday-
prayers, it is necessary to have some idea of the interior of a mosque,
A mosque in which a congregation assembles to perform the Friday-
prayers is called " g&meV The mosques of Cairo are so numerous,
that none of them is inconveniently crowded on the Friday; and
some of them are so large as to occupy spaces three or four
hundred feet square. They are mostly built of stone, the alternate
courses of which are generally coloured externally red and white.
Most commonly a large mosque consists of porticoes surrounding a
square open court, in the centre of which is a tank or a fountain for
ablution. One side of the building faces the direction of Mekkeh,
and the portico on this side, being the principal place of prayer, is
more spacious than those on the three other sides of the court : it
generally has two or more rows of columns, forming so many aisles,
parallel with the exterior wall. In some cases, this portico, like the
other three, is open to the court; in other cases, it is separated from
the court by partitions of wood, connecting the front row of columns.
In the centre of its exterior wall is the " mehrab " (or niche) which
marks the direction of Mekkeh ; and to the right of this is the
" mimbar " (or pulpit). Opposite the mehrab, in the fore part of the
portico, or in its central part, there is generally a platform (called
"dikkeh"), surrounded by a parapet, and supported by small
columns ; and by it, or before it, are one or two seats, having a kind
of desk to bear a volume of the Kur-dn, from which a chapter is read
to the congregation. The walls are generally quite plain, being
simply white-washed ; but in some mosques the lower part of the
wall of the place of prayer is lined with coloured marbles, and the
other part ornamented with various devices executed in stucco, but
mostly with texts of the Kur-an (which form long friezes, having a
pleasing effect), 1 and never with the representation of anything that
has life. The pavement is covered with matting, and the rich and
poor pray side by side; the man of rank or wealth enjoying no
peculiar distinction or comfort, unless (which is sometimes the case)
he have a prayer-carpet brought by his servant, and spread for
him. 2
The Prophet did not forbid women to attend public prayers in a
mosque, but pronounced it better for them to pray in private : in
i Tne "Throne-Verse" (see p. 79) is one of the in each of which is a receptacle with water, for
most common, ablution,
* Adjoining each mosque are several " latrincp,"
M
82 CHAPTER III.
Cairo, however, neither females nor young boys are allowed to pray
with the congregation in the mosque, or even to be present in the
mosque at any time of prayer : formerly women were permitted (and
perhaps are still in some countries), but were obliged to place them-
selves apart from the men, and behind the latter; because, as Sale
has remarked, the Muslims are of opinion that the presence of
females inspires a different kind of devotion from that which is
requisite in a place dedicated to the worship of God. Very few
women in Egypt even pray at home.
Over each of the mosques of Cairo presides a " N&zir " (or
warden), who is the trustee of the funds which arise from lands,
houses, &c., bequeathed to the mosque by the founder and others,
and who appoints the religious ministers and the inferior servants.
Two " Im&ms " are employed to officiate in each of the larger
mosques : one of them, called the " Kha^eeb," preaches and prays
before the congregation on the Friday : the other is an " Imam
R&tib," or ordinary Imam, who recites the five prayers of every day
in the mosque, at the head of those persons who may be there at the
exact times of those prayers : but in most of the smaller mosques
both these offices are performed by one Imam. There are also to
each mosque one or more " mueddins " (to chant the call to prayer),
and " bowwabs " (or door-keepers), according as there are one or
more mdd'nehs (or menarets) and entrances; and several other
servants are employed to sweep the mosque, spread the mats, light
the lamps, and attend to the sdkiyeh (or water-wheel), by which the
tank or fountain, and other receptacles for water, necessary to the
performance of ablutions, are supplied. The Imams, and those
persons who perform the lower offices, are all paid from the funds
of the mosque, and not by any contributions exacted from the
people.
The condition of the Imdms is very different, in most respects, from
that of Christian priests. They have no authority above other persons,
and do not enjoy any respect but what their reputed piety or learning
may obtain for them : nor are they a distinct order of men set apart
for religious offices, like our clergy, and composing an indissoluble
fraternity ; for a man who has acted as the Imam of a mosque may
be displaced by the warden of that mosque, and, with his employment
and salary, loses the title of Imam, and has no better chance of being
again chosen for a religious minister than any other person com-
petent to perform the office. The Imdms obtain their livelihood
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 83
chiefly by other means than the service of the mosque, as their
salaries are very small : that of a Khateeb being generally about a
piaster (2d of our money) per month; and that of an ordinary
Im&m, about five piasters. Some of them engage in trade ; several
of them are " 'attdrs " (or druggists and perfumers), and many of
them are schoolmasters : those who have no regular occupations of
these kinds often recite the Kur-dn for hire in private houses. They
are mostly chosen from among the poor students of the great mosque
El-Azhar.
The large mosques are open from day-break till a little after the
'eshe, or till nearly two hours after sunset. The others are closed
between the hours of morning and noon prayers ; and most mosques
are also closed in rainy weather (except at the times of prayer), lest
persons who have no shoes should enter, and dirt the pavement and
matting. Such persons always enter by the door nearest the tank or
fountain (if there be more than one door), that they may wash
before they pass into the place of prayer ; and generally this door
alone is left open in dirty weather. The great mosque El-Azhar
remains open all night, with the exception of the principal place of
prayer, which is called the " maksoorah," being partitioned off from
the rest of the building. In many of the larger mosques, particularly
in the afternoon, persons are seen lounging, chatting together, eating,
sleeping, and sometimes spinning or sewing, or engaged in some
other simple craft ; but, notwithstanding such practices, which are
contrary to precepts of their prophet, the Muslims very highly respect
their mosques. There are several mosques in Cairo (as the Azhar,
Hasaneyn, &c.), before which no Frank, nor any other Christian,
nor a Jew, were allowed to pass, till of late years, since the French
invasion.
On the Friday, half an hour before the " duhr " (or noon), the
mueddins of the mosques ascend to the galleries of the mdd'nehs,
and chant the " Selm," which is a salutation to the Prophet, not
always expressed in the same words, but generally in words to the
following effect : " Blessing and peace be on thee, thou of great
dignity : Apostle of God. Blessing and peace be on thee, to whom
the Truth said, I am God. Blessing and peace be on th^e, thou first
of the creatures of God, and seal of the Apostles of God. From me
be [invoked] peace on thee, on thee and on thy Family and all thy
Companions." Persons then begin to assemble in the mosques.
The utmost solemnity and decorum are observed iix the publiq
84 CHAPTER III.
worship of the Muslims. Their looks and behaviour in the mosque
are not those of enthusiastic devotion, but of calm and modest piety.
Never are they guilty of a designedly irregular word or action during
their prayers. The pride and fanaticism which they exhibit in
common life, in intercourse with persons of their own, or of a different
faith, seem to be dropped on their entering the mosque, and they
appear wholly absorbed in the adoration of their Creator; humble
and downcast, yet without affected humility, or a forced expression of
countenance.
The Muslim takes off his shoes at the door of the mosque, carries
them in his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot first over
the threshold. If he have not previously performed the preparatory
ablution, he repairs at once to the tank or fountain to acquit himself
of that duty. Before he commences his prayers, he places his shoes
(and his sword and pistols, if he have such arms,) upon the matting,
a little before the spot where his head will touch the ground in pro-
stration : his shoes are put one upon the other, sole to sole.
The people who assemble to perform the noon-prayers of Friday
arrange themselves in rows parallel to that side of the mosque in
which is the niche, and facing that side. Many do not go until the
addn of noon, or just before. When a person goes at, or a little after,
the Selam, as soon as he has taken his place in one of the ranks, he
performs two rek'ahs, and then remains sitting, on his knees or cross-
legged, while a reader, having seated himself on the reading-chair
immediately after the Selam, is QCTOpied in reciting (usually without
book) the Soorat el-Kahf (the 18th chapter of the Kur-dn), or a part
of it ; for, generally, he has not finished it before the addn of noon,
when he stops. All the congregation, as soon as they hear the adan
(which is the same as on other days), sit on their knees and feet.
When tHdlfS&n is finished, they stand up, and perform, each separately,
two 1 rek'&hp, "sunnet el-gum'ah" (or the sunneh ordinance for
Friday), i^hich they conclude^ like the ordinary prayers, with the two
salutations, >*A servant of the mosque, called a "Murakkee," then
opens the folding-doors 4& the foot of the pulpit-stairs, takes from
b&hiad fkem a straight, wooden sword, and, standing a little to the
right of the door-way, with his right side towards the kibleh, holds
this sword in his righ* *hand, resting the point on the ground. In
If of the sect of the ShSfe'ees, to which most of the people of Cairo belong; but if of that of the
, four rek'ahs.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 85
this position he says, " Verily God and his angels bless the Prophet.
O ye who believe, bless him, and greet him with a salutation." 1
Then, one or more persons, called " Muballighs," stationed .on the
dikkeh, chant the following, or similar words. 8 " God, bless and
save and beatify the most noble of the Arabs and ' Agam [or foreigners] ,
the Imdm of Mekkeh and El-Medeeneh and the Temple, to whom
the spider shewed favour, and wove its web in the cave ; and whom
the dabb 8 saluted; and before whom the moon was cloven in twain;
our lord Mohammad, and his Family and Companions." The
Murakkee then recites the adan (which the Mueddins have already
chanted) : after every few words he pauses, and the Muballighs, on
the dikkeh, repeat the same words in a sonorous chant. 4 Before the
ad&n is finished, the Khateeb, or Irndm, comes to the foot of the
pulpit, takes the wooden sword from the Murakkee' s hand, ascends
the pulpit, and sits on the top step or platform. The pulpit of a
large mosque, on this day, is decorated with two flags, with the pro-
fession of the faith, or the names of God and Mohammad, worked
upon them : these are fixed at the top of the stairs, slanting forward.
The Murakkee and Muballighs having finished the adan, the former
repeats a tradition of the*Prophet, saying, " The Prophet (upon whom
be blessing and peace) hath said, ' If thou say unto thy companion
while the Imdm is preaching on Friday, Be thou silent, thou speakest
rashly.' Be ye silent : ye shall be rewarded : God shall recompense
you." He then sits down. The Khateeb now rises, and, holding
the wooden sword 5 in the same nianner as the Murakkee did, delivers
an exhortation, called "khutbet el-waaz." As the reader may be
curious to see a translation of a Muslim sermon, I insert one. The
following is a sermon preached on the first Friday of the Arab year/
The original, as usual, is in rhyming prose.
" Praise be to God, the Renewer of years, and the Multiplier of
favours, and the Creator of months and days, according to the most
perfect wisdom and most admirable regulation; who hath dignified
1 Kur-an, oh. xxxiii. v. 66. in a country or town that has been so acquired
8 There are some trifling differences in the by the Muslims from unbelievers,
forms of salutations on the Prophet in the Friday- During my first visit to Egypt, I we^t to*the
prayers in different mosques : I describe what is great mosque El-Azhar, to witness the perform-
most common. ance of the Friday-prayers by the largest con-
3 A kind of lizard, the lacerta Libyca. gregation hi <^airo. I wa * pleased with the
4 In the great mosque El-Azhar, there are seve- preaching of the Khateeb of the mosque, Q^d-El-
ral Muballighs in different places, to make the Mowla, aud afterwards procured his sermon-book
adan heard to the whole congregation. ("deewan khutab"), containing sermons for every
5 To commemorate the acquisition of Egypt by Friday in the year, and for the two * 'eets," or
the sword. It is never used by the Khateeb but grand festivals. I translate the first sermon, fe.
86 CHAPTER III.
the months of the Arabs above all other months, and pronounced that
among the more excellent of them is El-Moharram the Sacred, and
commenced with it the year, as He hath closed it with Zu-1-Heggeh.
How propitious is the beginning, and how good is the end ! l [I extol]
Ms perfection, exempting Him from the association of any other deity
with Him. He hath well considered what He hath formed, and esta-
blished what He hath contrived, and He alone hath the power to
create and to annihilate. I praise Him, extolling his perfection, and
exalting* his name, for the knowledge and inspiration which He hath
graciously vouchsafed ; and I testify that there is no deity but God
alone; He hath no companion; He is the most holy King; the
[God of] peace : and I testify that our lord and our Prophet and our
friend Mohammad is his servant and his apostle and his elect and his
friend, the guide of the way, and the lamp of the dark. God,
bless and save and beatify this noble Prophet, and chief and excellent
apostle, the merciful-hearted, our lord Mohammad, and his family,
and his companions, and his wives, and his posterity, and the people
of his house, the noble persons, and grant them ample salvation.
servants of God, your lives have been gradually curtailed, and year
after year hath passed away, and ye are sleepftig on the bed of indolence
and on the pillow of iniquity. Ye pass by the tombs of your prede-
cessors, and fear not the assault of destiny and destruction, as if
others departed from the world and ye must of necessity remain in it.
Ye rejoice at the arrival of new years, as if they brought an increase
to the term of life, and swim in the seas of desires, and enlarge your
hopes, and in every way exceed other people [in presumption], and
ye are sluggish in doing good. how great a calamity is this ! God
teacheth by an allegory. Know ye not that in the curtailment of
time by indolence and sleep there is very great trouble ? Know ye
not that in the cutting short of lives by the termination of years is a
very great warning? Know ye not that the night and day divide
the lives of numerous souls ? Know ye not that health and capacity
are two blessings coveted by many men ? But the truth hath become
manifest to him who hath eyes. Ye are now between two years : one
year hath passed away, and come to an end, with its evils; and ye
have entered upon another year, in which, if it please God, mankind
1 The year begins and ends with a sacred wards allowed. The first month is also held to
month. The sacred months are four; the first, be excellent on account of the day of 'Ashoora
seventh, eleventh, and twelfth. During these, (respecting which see chapter xxiv. of this work) j
war was forbidden to be waged against such as and the last, on account of the pilgrimage,
acknowledged them to be sacred; but was after-
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 87
shall be relieved. Is any of you determining upon diligence [in doing
good] in the year to come ? or repenting of his failings in the times that
are passed? The happy is he who maketh amends for the time
passed in the time to come; and the miserable is he whose days
pass away and he is careless of his time. This new year hath arrived,
and the sacred month of God hath come with blessings to you, the
first of the months of the year, and of the four sacred months, as hath
been said, and the most worthy of preference and honour and reverence.
Its fast is the most excellent of fasts after that which is obligatory, 1
and the doing of good in it is among the most excellent of the objects
of desire. Whosoever desireth to reap advantage from it, let him
fast the ninth and tenth days, looking for aid. 2 Abstain not from
this fast through indolence, and esteeming it a hardship ; but comply
with it in the best manner, and honour it with the best of honours,
and improve your time by the worship of God morning and evening.
Turn unto God with repentance, before the assault of death : He is
the God who accepteth repentance of his servants, and pardoneth
s i ns . The Tradition? The Apostle of God (God bless and save him)
hath said, 'The most excellent prayer, after the prescribed, 4 is the
prayer that is said in the last third of the night ; and the most ex-
cellent fast, after Ramaddn, is that of the month of God, El-
Moharram.' "
The Khateeb, having concluded his exhortation, says to the con-
gregation, " Supplicate God." He then sits down, and prays privately ;
and each member of the congregation at the same time offers up some
private petition, as after the ordinary prayers, holding his hands
before him (looking at the palms), and then drawing them down his
face. This done, the Muballighs say, " Ameen. Ameen ! (Amen.
Amen.) Lord of the beings of the whole world." The Khateeb
now rises again, and recites another Khutbeh, called " khutbet en-
naat," of which the following is a translation : 5
" Praise be to God, abundant praise, as He hath commanded. I
testify that there is no deity but God alone : He hath no companion :
affirming his supremacy, and condemning him who denieth and dis-
believeth : and I testify that our lord and our prophet Mohammad is
his servant and his apostle, the lord of mankind, the intercessor, the
i That of the month of Randan. 3 The Khateeb always closes his exhortation
See an account of the customs observed in with one or two traditions of the Prophet,
honour of the day of ' Ashoora, chap, xxiv, 4 The five daily prayers ordained by the tfur-an.
s This is always the same, or nearly so.
88 CHAPTER III.
accepted intercessor, on the day of assembling : God bless him and
his family as long as the eye seeth and the ear heareth. people,
reverence God by doing what He hath commanded, and abstain from
that which He hath forbidden and prohibited. The happy is he who
obeyeth, and the miserable is he who opposeth and sinneth. Know
that the present world is a transitory abode, and that the world ta
come is a lasting abode. Make provision, therefore, in your transitory
state for your lasting state, and prepare for your reckoning and
standing before your Lord: for know that ye shall to-morrow be
placed before God, and reckoned with according to your deeds ; and
before the Lord of Might ye shall be present, < and those who have
acted unjustly shall know with what an overthrowal they shall be
overthrown.' ! Know that God, whose perfection I extol, and whose
name be exalted, hath said (and ceaseth not to say wisely, and to
command judiciously, warning you, and teaching, and honouring the
dignity of your Prophet, extolling and magnifying him), f Verily, God
and his angels bless the Prophet : ye who believe, bless him, and
greet him with a salutation/ 2 God, bless MoKammad and the
family of Mohammad, as Thou blessedst Ibraheem 3 and the family of
Ibraheem ; and beatify Mohammad and the family of Mohammad, as
Thou hast beatified Ibrdheem and the family of Ibraheem among all
creatures for Thou art praiseworthy and glorious. God, do Thou
also be well pleased with the four Khaleefehs, the orthodox lords, of
high dignity and illustrious honour, Aboo-Bekr E-Siddeek, and
'Omar, and 'Osman, and 'Alee; and be Thou well pleased, 6 God,
with the six who remained of the ten noble and just persons who swore
allegiance to thy Prophet Mohammad (God bless him and save him)
under the tree (for Thou art the Lord of piety, and the Lord of
pardon) ; those persons of excellence and clemency, and rectitude
and prosperity, Talhah, and Ez-Zubeyr, and Saad, and Sa'eed,
and 'Abd-Er-Rahraan Ibn-'Owf, and Aboo-'Obeydeh 'Amir Ibn-El-
Garrah; and with all the Companions of the Apostle of God (God
bless and save him); and be Thou well pleased, God, with
the two martyred descendants, the two bright moons, * ' the two
lords of the youths of the people of Paradise in Paradise/ the two
sweet-smelling flowers of the Prophet of this nation, Aboo-Mohammad
El-Hasan, and Aboo-'Abd-Allah El-IJoseyn : and be Thou well pleased,
God, with their mother, the daughter of the Apostle of God (God
. xxvi, last verse. Idem, ch. xxxiii. v.* 66. s The patriarch Abraham.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 89
bless and save him), Ftimeh Ez-Zahra, and with their grandmother
Khadeegeh El-Kubra, and with 'Aisheh, the mother of the faithful,
and with the rest of the pure wives, and with the generation which
succeeded the Companions, and the generation which succeeded that,
with beneficence to the day of judgment. O God, pardon the believing
men and the believing women, and the Muslim men and the Muslim
women, those who are living, and the dead ; for Thou art a hearer
near, an answerer of prayers, Lord of the beings of the whole world.
God, aid El-Islam, and strengthen its pillars, and make infidelity
to tremble, and destroy its might, by the preservation of thy servant,
and the son of thy servant, the submissive to the might of thy majesty
and glory, whom God hath aided, by the care of the Adored King,
our master the Sultan, son of the Sultan, the Sultan Mahmood 1
Khan : may God assist him, and prolong [his reign] . God, assist
him, and assist his armies, thou Lord of the religion, and of the
world present, and the world to come. Lord of the beings of the
whole world. O God, assist tfie forces of the Muslims, and the
armies of the Unitarians. O God, frustrate the infidels and poly-
theists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion. God, invert
their banners, and ruin their habitations, and give them and their
wealth as booty to the Muslims. 2 God, pnloose the captivity of
the captives, and annul the debts of the debtors ; and make this town
to be safe and secure, and blessed with wealth and plenty, and all the
towns of the Muslims, Lord of the beings of the whole world.
And decree safety and health to us and to all travellers, and pilgrims,
and warriors, and wanderers, upon thy earth, and upon thy sea, such
as are Muslims, Lord of the beings of the whole world, ' Lord,
we have acted unjustly towards our own souls, and if Thou do not
forgive us and be merciful unto us, we shall surely be of those who
perish/ 3 I beg of God, the Great, that He may forgive me and you,
and all the people of Mohammad, the servants of God. ' Verily God
commandeth justice, and the doing of good, and giving [what is due]
to kindred ; and forbiddeth wickedness, and iniquity, and oppression :
He admonisheth you that ye may reflect/ 4 Remember God; He
i The reigning Sul^n at the time when the was not inserted in one copy of this prayer, which
above was written. The Turkish Sultan is prayed I obtained from an Imam. Another Imam, at
for as the Khaleefeh, or Vicar of Mohammad, whose dictation I wrote the copy here translated,
Formerly, the 'Abbasee or F^imee Khaleefehs told me that this sentence and some others were
were thus mentioned in the congregational often omitted,
prayers of Friday. 3 ?ur^n. ch. vii. v. 22.
This sentence, beginning " O God, frustrate," * Idem, ch. xvi, v. 92.
N
90 CHAPTER III.
will remember you : and thank Him ; He will increase to you [yoiii*
blessings]. Praise be to God, the Lord of the beings of the whole
world !"
During the rise of the Nile, a good inundation is also prayed for
in this Khutbeh. The Khateeb, or Im&m, having ended it, descends
from the pulpit, and the Muballighs chant the " ikdmeh " (described
in a foot-note to page 78) : the Imdm, stationed before the niche,
then recites the " fard " prayers of Friday, which consist of two rek'ahs,
and are similar to the ordinary prayers. The people do the same, but
silently, and keeping time exactly with the Imam in the various pos-
tures. Those who are of the Malikee sect then leave the mosque ;
and so also do many persons of the other sects : but some of the
SMfe'ees and Hanafees (there are scarcely any Hambelees in Cairo)
remain, and recite the ordinary fard prayers of noon ; forming a
number of separate groups, in each of which one acts as Imam. The
rich, on going out of the mosque, often give alms to the poor outside
the door.
There are other prayers to be performed on particular occasions
on the two grand annual festivals, on the nights of Ramadan (the
month of abstinence), on the occasion of an eclipse of the sun or
moon, for rain, previously to the commencement of battle, in pilgrim-
age, and at funerals.
I have spoken thus fully* of Muslim worship because my country-
men in general have very imperfect and erroneous notions on this
subject ; many of them even imagining that the Muslims ordinarily
pray to their Prophet as well as to God. Invocations to the Prophet,
for his intercession, are, indeed, frequently made, particularly at his
tomb, where pious visiters generally say, " We ask thy intercession,
O Apostle of God." The Muslims also even implore the intercession
of their numerous saints.
The duty next in importance to prayer is that of giving alms.
Certain alms are prescribed by law, and are called " zekah " (thus
commonly pronounced for " zekah"): others, called "sadakah," are
voluntary. (These two terms, however, are properly synonymous.)
The former, or obligatory alms, were, in the earlier ages of El-Isla*m,
collected, by officers appointed by the sovereign, for pious uses, such
as building mosques, &c. ; but now it is left to the Muslim's con-
science to give them, and to apply them in what manner he thinks
fit; that is, to bestow them upon whatever needy persons he may
choose. They are to be given once in every year ; of cattle and sheep,
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 91
generally in the proportion of one in forty, two in a hundred and
twenty ; of camels, for every five, a ewe ; or for twenty-five, a pregnant
camel; and likewise of money, and, among the Hanafees, of mer-
chandize, &c. He who has money to the amount of two hundred
dirhems (or drams) of silver, or twenty mitkals (i. e, thirty drams) of
gold, or, among the Hanafees, the value of the above in gold or silver
ornaments, utensils, &c., must annually give the fortieth part (" ruba
el-'oshr "), or the value of that part.
Fasting is the next duty. The Muslim is commanded to fast
during the whole month of Ramadan l every day, from the first
appearance of daybreak, or rather from the hour when a person can
distinguish plainly the white thread from the black thread, 2 meaning
the white streak and the black streak seen in the eastern horizon at
the first appearance of daybreak (in Egypt about two hours before
sunrise), until sunset. He must abstain from eating, drinking,
smoking, smelling perfumes, and every unnecessary indulgence or
pleasure of a worldly nature ; even from intentionally swallowing his
spittle. When Ramadan falls in summer, 3 the fast is very severe ; the
abstinence from drinking being most painfully felt. Persons who are
sick, or on a journey, and soldiers in time of war, are not obliged to
observe the fast during Ramad&n ; but if they do not keep it in this
month they should fast an equal number of days at a future time.
Fasting is also to be dispensed with in the cases of a nurse and a
pregnant woman. The Prophet even disapproved of any person's
keeping the fast of Ramadan if not perfectly able ; and desired no
man to fast so much as to injure his health, or disqualify himself for
necessary labour. The modern Muslims seem to regard the fast of
Ramadan as of more importance than any other religious act, for
many of them keep this fast who neglect their daily prayers ; and
even those who break the fast, with very few exceptions, pretend to
keep it. Many Muslims of the wealthy classes eat and drink in
secret during Ramadan; but the greater number strictly keep the
fast, which is fatal to numerous persons in a weak state of health.
There are some other days on which it is considered meritorious to
fast, but not absolutely necessary. On the two grand festivals,
namely, that following Ramaddn, and that which succeeds the pilgrim-
age, it is unlawful to do so, being expressly forbidden by the Prophet.
i Because the Prophet received the first revela- 3 The year being lunar, each month retrogrades
tion in that month. through all the seasons. in the course of about
> Kur-an, ch. ii. v. 183. thirty-three years and a half.
92 CHAPTER IIL
The last of the four most important duties, that of pilgrimage,
remains to be noticed. It is incumbent on every Muslim to perform,
once iii his life, the pilgrimage to Mekkeh and Mount 'Arafdt, unless
poverty or ill health prevent him ; or, if a Hanafee, he may send a
deputy, whose expenses he must pay. 1 Many, however, neglect the
duty of pilgrimage who cannot plead a lawful excuse ; &nd they are
not reproached for so doing. It is not merely by the visit to Mekkeh,
and the performance of the ceremonies of compassing the Kaabeh
seven times and kissing the " black stone" in each round, and other
rites in the Holy City, that the Muslim acquires the title of "el-
hagg" 2 (or the pilgrim) : the final object of the pilgrimage is Mount
'Arafat, six hours' journey distant from Mekkeh. During his per-
formance of the required ceremonies in Mekkeh, and also during his
journey to 'Arafat, and until his completion of the pilgrimage, the
Muslim wears a peculiar dress, called "ehram" (vulgarly heram),
generally consisting of two simple pieces of cotton, or linen, or
woollen cloth, without seam or ornament, one of which is wrapped
round the loins, and the other thrown over the shoulders : the instep
and heel of each foot, and the head, must be bare ; but umbrellas are
now used by many of the pilgrims. It is necessary that the pilgrim
be present on the occasion of a Khutbeh which is recited on Mount
'Araf&t in the afternoon of the 9th of the month of Zu-1-Heggeh.
In the ensuing evening, after sunset, the pilgrims commence their
return to Mekkeh. Halting the following day in the valley of Mine
(or, as it is more commonly called, Muna), they complete the cere-
monies of the pilgrimage by a sacrifice (of one or more rams, he-goats,
cows, or she-camels, part of the flesh of which they eat, and part
give to the poor), and by shaving the head and clipping the nails.
Every one, after this, resumes his usual dress, or puts on a new one, if
provided with such. The sacrifice is called " el-fida " (or the ransom),
as it is performed in commemoration of the ransom of Isma'eel (or
Ishmael) by the sacrifice of the ram, when he was himself about to be
offered up by his father; for it is the general opinion of the Muslims
that it was this son, not Isaac, who was to be sacrificed by his father.
There are other ordinances, more or less connected with those
which have been already explained.
1 A Malikee is held bound to perform the pil- 2 On the pronunciation of this word, see a note
grimage if strong enough to bear the journey to the second paragraph of Chapter V.
on foot, and able to earn his food on the way.
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 93
The two festivals called " el-'Eed es-Sugheiyir," l or the Minor
Festival, and " el-'Eed el-Kebeer," or the Great Festival, the occasions
of which have been mentioned above, are observed with public prayer
and general rejoicing. The first of these lasts three days; and the
second, three or four days. The festivities with which they are cele-
brated will be described in a subsequent chapter. On the first day of
the latter festival (it being the day on which the pilgrims perform
their sacrifice) every Muslim should slay a victim, if he can afford to
purchase one. The wealthy person slays several sheep, or a sheep or
two, and a buffalo, and distributes the greater portion of the meat to
the poor, The slaughter may be performed by a deputy.
War against enemies of El-Islam, who have been the first ag-
gressors, is enjoined as a sacred duty; and he who loses his life in
fulfilling this duty, if unpaid, is promised the rewards of a martyr.
It has been said, even by some of their leading doctors, that the
Muslims are commanded to put to death all idolaters who refuse to
embrace El-Islam, except women and children, whom they are to
make slaves : 2 but the precepts on which this assertion is founded
relate to the pagan Arabs, who had violated their oaths and long per-
severed in their hostility to Mohammad and his followers. According
to the decisions of the most reasonable doctors, the laws respecting
other idolaters, as well as Christians and Jews, who have drawn upon
themselves the hostility of the Muslims, are different : of such enemies,
if reduced by force of arms, refusing to capitulate or to surrender
themselves, the men may be put to death or be made slaves ; and the
women and children also, under the same circumstances, may be made
slaves : but life and liberty are to be granted to those enemies who
surrender themselves by capitulation or otherwise, on the condition of
their embracing El-Islam or paying a poll-tax, unless they have &cted
perfidiously towards the Muslims, as did the Jewish tribe of Kureydhah,
who, being in league with Mohammad, went over to his enemies and
aided them against him : for which conduct, when they surrendered,
the men were slain, and the women and children were made slaves.
The Muslims, it may here be added, are forbidden to contract intimate
friendship with unbelievers.
1 More properly " Sagheer." This is what many the lur-an, when carefully examined, and accord-
travellers have incorrectly called "the Great Fes- ing to the Hanafee code. I am indebted to Mr.
tival." Urquhart for suggesting to me the necessity of
2 Misled by the decision of those doctors, and revising my former statement on this subject ;
an opinion prevalent in Europe, I represented the and must express my conviction that no precept
laws of "holy war" as more severe than I find is to be found in the '^ur-an which, taken with
them to be according to the letter and spirit of the context, can justify unprovoked war.
94 CHAFf ER III.
There are certain prohibitory laws in the Kur-an which must be
mentioned here, as remarkably affecting the moral and social condition
of its disciples.
Wine, and all inebriating liquors, are forbidden, as being the
cause of " more evil than profit." L Many of the Muslims, however,
in the present day, drink wine, brandy, &c., in secret; and some,
thinking it no sin to indulge thus in moderation, scruple not to do so
openly; but among the Egyptians there are few who transgress in
this flagrant manner. " Boozeh," or " boozah," which is an intoxi-
cating liquor made with barley-bread, crumbled, mixed with water,
strained, and left to ferment, is commonly drunk by the boatmen of
the Nile, and by other persons of the lower orders. 2 Opium, and
other drugs which produce a similar effect, are considered unlawful,
though not mentioned in the Kur-&n ; and persons who are addicted
to the use of these drugs are regarded as immoral characters ; but in
Egypt, such persons are not very numerous. Some Muslims have
pronounced tobacco, and even coffee, unlawful.
The eating of swine's flesh is strictly forbidden. The unwhole-
some effects of that meat in a hot climate would be a sufficient reason
for the prohibition ; but the pig is held in abhorrence by the Muslim
chiefly on account of its extremely filthy habits. 3 Most animals pro-
hibited for food by the Mosaic law are alike forbidden to the Muslim.
The camel is an exception. The Muslim is "forbidden [to eat] that
which dieth of itself, and blood, and swine's flesh, and that on which
the name of any beside God hath been invoked ; and that which hath
been strangled, or killed by a blow, or by a fall, or by the horns [of
another beast]; and that which hath been [partly] eaten by a wild
beast, except what he shall [himself] kill ; and that which hath been
sacrificed unto idols." 4 An animal that is killed for the food of man
must be slaughtered in a particular manner : the person who is about
to perform the operation must say, " In the name of God : God is
most great:" and then cut its throat, at the part next the head,
taking care to divide the windpipe, gullet, and carotid arteries; unless
1 Kur-an, ch. ii. v. 216. A kind of wine, for- 2 A similar beverage, thus prepared from barley,
merly called " nebeedh " (a name now given to was used by the ancient Egyptians. (Herodotus'
prohibited kinds), may be lawfully drunk. This lib. ii. cap. 77.) The modern inhabitants of
is generally an infusion of dry grapes, or dry Egypt also prepare boozeh from wheat and from
dates. The Muslims used to keep it until it had millet in the same manner, but less commonly,
slightly fermented ; and the Prophet himself was Swine were universally deemed impure by the
accustomed to drink it, but not when it was more ancient Egyptians. (Herodotus, lib. ii. cap. 47.)
than two days old. The nebeedh of raisins is now * Kur-an, ch. v v. 4.
called "sebeeb."
RITUAL AND MORAL LAWS. 95
it be a camel, in which case he should stab the throat at the part next
the breast. It is forbidden to utter, in slaughtering an animal, the
phrase which is so often made use of on other occasions, " In the
name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful/' because the mention
of the most benevolent epithets of the Deity on such an occasion
would seem like a mockery of the sufferings which it is about to
endure. Some persons in Egypt, but mostly women, when about to
kill an animal for food, say, "In the name of God: God is most
great : God give thee patience to endure the affliction which He hath
allotted thee/" 1 If the sentiment which first dictated this prayer
were always felt, it would present a beautiful trait in the character of
the people who use it. In cases of necessity, when in danger of
starving, the Muslim is allowed to eat any food which is unlawful
under other circumstances. The mode of slaughter above described
is, of course, only required to be practised in the cases of domestic
animals. Most kinds of fish are lawful food: 2 so too are many
birds ; the tame kinds of which must be killed in the same manner
as cattle ; but the wild may be shot. The hare, rabbit, gazelle, &c.,
are lawful food; and may either be shot (as birds may be), or killed
by a dog, provided the name of God was uttered at the time of dis-
charging the arrow, &c., or slipping the dog, and he (the dog) has
not eaten any part of the prey. This animal, however, is considered
very unclean : the Shafe'ees hold themselves to be polluted by the
tou.ch of its nose, if it be wet ; and if any part of their clothes be so
touched, they must wash that part with seven waters, and once with
clean earth : some others are only careful not to let the animal lick,
or defile in a worse manner, their persons or their dress, &c. When
game has been struck down by any weapon, but not killed, its throat
must be immediately cut : otherwise it is unlawful food.
Gambling and usury are prohibited, 3 and all games of chance ; and
likewise the making of images or pictures of anything that has life. 4
1 The Arabic words of this prayer, "God give 3 It is unlawful to give or receive interest, how-
thee patience," &c., are, " Allah yesabbirak (for ever small, for a loan, or on account of credit ;
yusabbirak) 'ala m& belak." and to exchange any article for another article of
8 In some respects the Muslim code does not the same species, but differing in quantity. These
appear to be so strictly founded upon exigencies and several other commercial transactions of a
of a sanitary nature as the Mosaic. See Leviticus, similar kind are severely condemned ; but they
xi. 912. In Egypt, fish which have not scales are not very uncommon among modern Muslims,
are generally found to be unwholesome food. One some of whom take exorbitant interest,
of the few reasonable laws of El-H&kim was that * Many of the Muslims hold that only sculp-
which forbade the selling or catching such kinds tures which cast a shadow, representing living
offish. See De Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe, 2nd creatures, are unlawful; but the Prophet cer-
ed., vol. i. p. 98. tainly condemned pictures also.
96 CHAPTER Til.
The Prophet declared that every representation of this kind would be
placed before its author on the day of judgment, and that he would
be commanded to put life into it; which not being able to do, he
would be cast, for a time, into hell.
The principal civil and criminal laws remain to be stated. Their
origin we discover partly in customs of the Pagan Arabs ; but mostly
in the Bible and the Jewish traditions.
The civil and criminal laws are chiefly and immediately derived
from the Kur-dn ; l but, in many important cases, this highest autho-
rity affords no precept. In most of these cases the Traditions of the
Prophet direct the decisions of the judge. 2 There are, however, some
important cases, and many of an inferior kind, respecting which both
the Kur-an and the Traditions are silent or indecisive. These are
determined by the explanations and amplifications derived either from
the concordance of the principal early disciples, or from analogy, by
the four great Im&ms, or founders of the four orthodox persuasions of
El-Islam ; generally on the authority of the Imdm of that persuasion
to which the ruling power belongs, which persuasion, in Egypt, and
throughout the Turkish Empire, is that of the Hanafees : or, if none
of the decisions of the Imam relate to a case in dispute (which not
unfrequently happens), judgment is given in accordance with a sentence
of some other eminent doctor, founded upon analogy. In general,
only the principal laws, as laid down in the Kur-dn and the Traditions,
will be here stated.
The laws relating to marriage and the licence of polygamy, the
facility of divorce allowed by the Kur-dn, and the permission of concu-
binage, are essentially the natural and necessary consequences of the
main principle of the constitution of Muslim society the restriction
of the intercourse between the sexes before marriage. Pew men would
marry if he who was disappointed in a wife whom he had never seen
before were not allowed to take another ; and in the case of a man's
doing this, his own happiness, or that of the former wife, or the
happiness of both these parties, may require his either retaining this
wife or divorcing her. But I hope that my reader will admit a much
stronger reason for these laws, regarding them as designed for the
Muslims. As Moses allowed God's chosen people, for the hardness of
their hearts, to put away their wives, and forbade neither polygamy
J A law given in the tfur-an is called "fare}." * A law derived from the Traditions is called
" sunneh."
CIVIL LAWS. 97
nor concubinage, he who believes that Moses was divinely inspired, to
enact the best laws for his people, must hold the permission of these
practices to be less injurious to morality than their prohibition, among
a people similar to the ancient Jews. Their permission, though
certainly productive of injurious effects upon morality and domestic
happiness, prevents a profligacy that would be worse than that
which prevails to so great a degree in European countries, where
parties are united in marriage after an intimate mutual acquaintance.
As to the licence of polygamy, which seems to be unfavourable to the
accomplishment of the main object for which marriage was instituted,
as well as to the exercise and improvement of the nobler powers of the
mind, we should remark, that it was not introduced, but limited, by
the legislator of the Muslims. It is true that he assumed to himself
the privilege of having a greater number of wives than he allowed to
others ; but, in doing so, he may have been actuated by the want, of
male offspring, rather than impelled by voluptuousness.
The law respecting marriage and concubinage is perfectly explicit
as to the number of wives whom a Muslim may have at the same time;
but it is not so with regard to the number of concubine-slaves whom
he may have. It is written, " Take in marriage, of the women who
please you, two, three, or four; but if ye fear that ye cannot act
' equitably [to so many, take] one ; or, [take] those whom your right
hands have acquired," 1 that is, your slaves. Therefore many of the
wealthy Muslims marry two, three, or four wives, and keep besides
several concubine-slaves ; and many of the most revered characters,
even Companions of the Prophet, are recorded to have done the same.
The conduct of the latter clearly shews that the number of concubine-
slaves whom a man may have is not limited by the law in the opinion
of the orthodox. 2
It is held lawful for a Muslim to marry a Christian or a Jewish
woman, if induced to do so by. excessive love of her, or if he cannot
obtain a wife of his own faith ; but in this case the offspring must
follow the father's faith, 8 and the wife does not inherit when the father
dies. A Muslimeh, however, is not allowed in any circumstances,
1 ur-an, ch. iv. v. 3. certainly does not limit the number of concubine-
's Some Muslim moralists argue, that, as four slaves whom a man may have, whether in addition
wives are a sufficient number for one man, so also to, or without, a wife or wives,
are four concubine-slaves, or four women consist- 3 In like manner, when a Christian man marries
ing of these two classes together ; but, notwith- a Jewess, the Muslim law requires the offspring to
standing what Sale and some other learned men profess " the better faith," namely, the Christian,
have asserted on this subject, the Muslim law if unwilling to embrace El-Islam.
O
98 CHAPTER, III.
but when force is employed, to marry a man who is not of her own
faith. A man is forbidden, by the Kur-dn 1 and the Sunneh, to
marry his mother, or other ascendant; his daughter, or other
descendant; his sister, or half-sister; the sister of his father or
mother, or other ascendant ; his niece, or any of her descendants ; his
foster-mother,* or a woman related to him by milk in any of the
degrees which would preclude his marriage with her if she were
similarly related to him by consanguinity; the mother of his wife,
even if he have not consummated his marriage with this wife; the
daughter of his wife if he have consummated his marriage with the
latter, and she be still his wife ; his father's wife, and his son's wife ;
and to have at the same time two wives who are sisters, or aunt and
niece : he is forbidden also to marry his unemancipated slave, or
another man's slave, if he have already a free wife. It is lawful for
the Muslim to see the faces of these women whom he is forbidden to
marry, but of no others, except his own wives and female slaves.
The marriage of a man and woman, or of a man and a girl who has
arrived at puberty, is lawfully effected by their declaring (which the
latter generally docs by a "wekeel," or deputy,) their consent to
marry each other, in the presence of two witnesses (if witnesses can be
procured), and by the payment, or part-payment, of a dowry. But
the consent of a girl under the age of puberty is not required ; her
father, or, if he be dead, her nearest adult male relation, or any person
appointed as her guardian by will or by the Kddee, acting for her as
he pleases. 8 The giving of a dowry is indispensable, and the least
sum that is allowed by law is ten " dirhems " (or drachms of silver),
which is equal to about five shillings of our money. A man may
legally marry a woman without rpentioning a dowry ; but after the
consummation of the marriage she can, in this case, compel him to
pay the sum of ten dirhems. 4
A man may divorce his wife twice, and each time take her back
without any ceremony, except in a case to be mentioned below ; but
if he divorce her the third time, or put her away by a triple divorce
conveyed in one sentence, he cannot receive her again until she has
1 Ch. iv. w. 26 and 27. A boy may be thus married j but he may
8 By the Hanafee code, a man may not marry a divorce his wife.
woman from whose breast he has received a * Whatever property the wife receives from her
single drop of milk j but Esh-Sh&fe'eo does not husband, parents, or any other person, is entirely
prohibit the marriage unless he has been suckled at her own disposal, and not subject to any claim
by her five times in the course of the first two of her husband or his creditors,
years.
CIVIL LAWS. 99
been married and divorced by another husband, who must have con-
summated his marriage with her. 1 When a man divorces his wife
(which he does by merely saying, " Thou art divorced," or " I divorce
thee"), he pays her a portion of her dowry (generally one-third),
which he had kept back from the first, to be paid on this occasion or
at his death ; and she takes away with her the furniture, &c., which
she brought at her marriage. He may thus put her away from mere
dislike/ and without assigning any reason; but a woman cannot
separate herself from her husband against his will, unless it be for
some considerable fault on his part, as cruel treatment, or neglect ;
and even then, application to the Kadee's court is generally necessary
to compel the man to divorce her; and she forfeits the above-men-
tioned remnant of the dowry.
The first and second divorce, if made without any mutual agree- ,
ment for a compensation from the woman, or a pecuniary sacrifice on
her part, is termed " tal% reg'ee " (a divorce which admits of return) ;
because the husband may take back his wife, without her consent,
during the period of her " 'eddeh " (which'will be presently explained),
but not after, unless with her consent, and by a new contract. If he
divorce her the first or second time for a compensation, she perhaps
requesting, " Divorce me for what thou owest me," or f hast of
mine" (that is, of the dowry, furniture, &c.), or for an additional
sum, he cannot take her again but by her own consent, and by a new
contract. This is a "talak bain" (or separating divorce), and is
termed "the lesser separation," to distinguish it from the third
divorce, which is called " the greater separation." The " 'eddeh " is
the period during which a divorced woman, or a widow, must wait
before marrying again ; in either case, if pregnant, until delivery :
otherwise, the former must wait three lunar periods, or three months;
and the latter, four months and ten days. A woman who is divorced
when in a state of pregnancy, though she may make a new contract
of marriage immediately after her delivery, must wait forty days
longer before she can complete her marriage by receiving her hus-
band. The man who divorces his wife must maintain her in his own
house, or in that of her parents, or elsewhere, during the period of
her 'eddeh ; but must cease to live with her as her husband from the
commencement of that period. A divorced woman who has a son
under two years of age may retain him until he has attained that age,
Kur-an, eh. ii. vv. 229, 230. * As the law of Mosos also allows, See Deul. xxiv. 1.
100 CHAFIEK III.
and may be compelled to do so by the law of the Shafe'ees ; and, by
the' law of the M&likees, until he has arrived at puberty ; but the
IJanafee law limits the period during which the boy should remain
under her care to seven years : her daughter she should retain until
nine years of age, or the period of puberty. If a man divorce his
wife before the consummation of marriage, he must pay her half the
sum which he has promised to give her as a dowry ; or, if he have
promised no dowry, he must pay her the half of the smallest dowry
allowed by law, which has been above mentioned ; and she may marry
again immediately.
When a wife refuses to obey the lawful commands of her husband,
he may, and generally does, take her, or two witnesses 1 against her,
to the Kddee's court, to prefer a complaint against her ; and, if the
case be proved, a certificate is written declaring the woman "nashizeh,"
or rebellious against Her husband. This process is termed " writing
a woman n&shizeh." It exempts her husband from obligation to
lodge, clothe, and maintain her. He is not obliged to divorce her ;
and, by refusing to do this, he may prevent her marrying another
man as long as he lives; but, if she promise to be obedient after-
wards, he must take her back, and maintain her, or divorce her. It
is more common, however, for a wife whose husband refuses to divorce
her, if she have parents or other relations able and willing to support
her comfortably, to make a complaint at the Kadee's court, stating
her husband's conduct to be of such a nature towards her that she
will riot live with him, and thus cause herself to be registered
"nashizeh," and separated from him. In this case, the husband
generally persists, from mere spite, in refusing to divorce her.
As concubines are slaves, some account of slaves in general may
here be appropriately inserted, with a statement of the principal laws
respecting concubines and their offspring, &c. The slave is either a
person taken captive in war, or carried off by force from a foreign
hostile country, and being at the time of capture an infidel ; or the
offspring of a female slave by another slave, or by any man who is
not her owner, or by her owner if he do not acknowledge himself to
be the father ; but a person cannot be the slave of a relation who is
within the prohibited degrees of marriage. The power of the owner
is such that he may even kill his slave with impunity for any offence;
and he incurs but a slight punishment (as imprisonment for a period
1 The witnesses must always be Muslims in accusations against a person of the same faith.
CIVIL LAWS. 101
at the discretion of the judge) if he do so wantonly. He may give or
sell his slaves, except, in some cases which will be mentioned ; and
may marry them to whom he will, but not separate them when
married. A slave, however, according to most of the doctors, cannot
have more than two wives at the same time. As a slave enjoys less
advantages than a free person, the law, in some cases, ordains that
his punishment for an offence shall be half of that to which the free
is liable for the same offence, or even less than half : if it be a fine,
or pecuniary compensation, it must be paid by the owner, to the
amount, if necessary, of the value of the slave, or the slave must be
given in compensation. An unemancipated slave, at the death of the
owner, becomes the property of the heirs of the latter ; and when an
emancipated slave dies, leaving no male descendant or collateral rela-
tion, the former owner is the heir; or, if he be dead, his heirs inherit
the slave's property. But an unemancipated^ slave can acquire no
property without the permission of the owner. Complete and im-
mediate emancipation is sometimes granted to a slave gratuitously, or
for a future pecuniary compensation. It is conferred by means of a
written document, or by a verbal declaration in the presence of two
witnesses, or by presenting the slave with the certificate of sale ob-
tained from the former owner. Future emancipation is sometimes
covenanted to be granted on the fulfilment of certain conditions; and
more frequently, to be conferred on the occasion of the owner's death.
In the latter case, the owner cannot sell the slave to whom he has
made this promise; and as he cannot alienate by will more than one-
third of the whole property that he leaves, the law ordains that, if the
value of the said slave exceed that portion, the slave must obtain, arid
pay to the owner's heirs, the additional sum. A Muslim may take
as his concubine any of his female slaves who is a Muslimeh, or a
Christian, or a Jewess, if he have not married her to another man ;
but he may not have as his concubines, at the same time, two or more
who are sisters, or who are related to each other in any of the degrees
which would prevent their both being his wives at the same time if
they were free. A Christian is not by the law allowed, nor is a Jew,
to have a Muslirneh slave as his concubine. 1 The master must wait
a certain period (generally from a month to three months) after his
acquisition of a female slave, before he can take her as his concubine.
When a female slave becomes a mother by her master, the child
i Yet many C'hristiaiib and Jews in Egypt infringe (he law m tins respect with impunity.
102 CHAPTER 111.
which she bears to him is free, if he acknowledge it to be his own ;
but if not (which I believe is seldom the case), it is his slave. In
the former case the mother cannot afterwards be sold nor given away
by her master (though she must continue to serve him and be his
concubine as long as he desires) ; and she is entitled to emancipation
at his death. Her bearing a child to him is called the cause of her
emancipation or liberty ; but it does not oblige him to emancipate her
as long as he lives, though it is commendable if he do so, and make
her his wife, provided he have not already four wives, or if he marry
her to another man, should it be her wish. A free person cannot
become the husband or wife of his, or her, own slave, without first
emancipating that slave ; and the marriage of a free person with the
slave of another is dissolved if the former become the owner of the
latter, and cannot be renewed but by emancipation and a regular legal
contract.
The most remarkable general principles of the laws of inheritance
are the denial of any privileges to primogeniture, 1 and in most cases
awarding to a female a share equal to half that of a male of the same
degree of relationship to the deceased. 2 A person may bequeath
one-third of his or her property ; but not a larger portion, unless he
or she has no legal heir ; nor any portion to a legal heir, except wife
or husband, without the consent of all the other heirs. The children
of a person deceased inherit the whole of that person's property, or
what remains after the deduction of certain shares to be mentioned
below, and after payment of the legacies and debts, &c. ; and the
share of a male is double the share of a female. If the children of
the deceased be only females, two or more in number, they inherit
together, by the law of the Kur-an, two-thirds ; and if there be but
one child, and that a female, she inherits by the same law half.
[But the remaining third, or half, is also assigned to the said
daughters or daughter, by a law of the Sunneh (which applies also to
other cases), if there be no other legal heir.] If the deceased have
* In this the Muslim law differs from the Mo- I sought only to add to, not to correct, the mforina-
saic, which assigns a double portion to the first- tion conveyed by his version. I have here given
born son. See J)eut. xxi. 17. a corrected statement, derived from the lur-an
* In my summary of the principal laws relating and the Commentary of the Geldleyn, supplying
to inheritance, in the first two editions of this some words of necessary explanation (which are
work, there were some errors, occasioned by my enclosed in brackets) partly on the authority of a
relying too much upon Sale's version of the sheykhwhowas my tutor, and partly from the
Rur-a*n ; for I doubted not his accuracy, as he had valuable work of D'Ohsson, " Tableau G<5n<$ral
several commentaries to consult, and I had none ; de 1'Empire Othoman," Code Civil, livre iv.
wherefore, in my inquiries respecting these laws,
CIVIL LAWS. 103
left no immediate descendant, the sons and daughters of his son or
sons inherit as immediate descendants [and so on]. If the deceased
have left a child or a son's child [and so on], each of the parents of
the deceased inherits one-sixth. If the father he dead, his share falls
to his father. [If the mother be dead, her share falls to her mother.]
If the deceased have left no child or son's child [and so on], the
mother has one-third of the property, or of what remains after
deducting the share of the wife or wives or hushand, and the residue
is for the father ; unless the deceased has left two or more brothers or
sisters, in which case the mother inherits one-sixth, and the father the
residue; the said brothers or sisters receiving nothing; 1 [if the
deceased have left a father or any ascendant in the male line.] A
man inherits half of what remains of his wife's property after the
payment of her legacies, &c., if she have left no child or son's child,
[and so on ;] and one-fourth if she have left a child or son's child, [and
so on.] One-fourth is the share of the wife, or of the wives con-
jointly, if the deceased husband have left no child or son's child, [and
so on;] and one-eighth if he have left any such descendant. 2 If the
deceased have not left a father, [nor any ascendant in the male line,]
nor a child, [nor a son's child, and so on,] the law ordains as
follows: 1. A sole brother, or sister, only by the mother's side,
inherits one-sixth ; and if there be two or more brothers or sisters
only by the mother's side, or one or more of such relations of each
sex, they inherit collectively one-third, which is equally divided,
without distinction of male and female. 2. If the deceased have left
a sole sister by his father and mother, [and no such brother,] she
inherits half; and a man inherits the whole property of such a sister,
[or what remains after the payment of her legacies, &c.,] if she have
left no child ; but if she have left a male child, [or son's child, and
so on,] he (the brother) inherits nothing; and if she have left a
female child, the said brother inherits what remains after deducting
1 According to Sale's translation of the 12th deducted from the mother's share g-oes to the
verse of chap, iv., and a note thereon, if the de- father, nor that the father's share is diminished.
ceased have no child, and his parents he his heirs, Why the mother's share is diminished and the
then his mother shall have the third part, and his father's increased, in the case to which this note
father the other two-thirds : but if he have brcth- relates, I do not see : the reason might be easily
ren, his mother shall have a sixth part : and by inferred, were it not that the surviving brothers
his translation of the last verse of the same chap- or sisters of the deceased may be his brothers or
ter, stating that the brothers of a man who has sisters by the mother's side only,
died without issue have a claim to inheritance, it a This is exclusive of what may remain due to
is implied that the brothers, if the fatherte living, her of her dowry, of which one-third is usually
must have a share j consequently, that they would held in reserve by the*husband, to be paid to her
have, in the case above mentioned, a sixth part : if he divorce her or when he dies,
for ho has not stated that this portion which is
104 CHAPTER III.
that child's share [and after the payment of the legacies, &c.]. If
the deceased have left two or more sisters by his father and mother,
[and no such brother,] they inherit together two-thirds. If the
deceased have left one or more brothers, and one or more sisters, by
his father and mother, they inherit the whole, [or what remains after
the payment of the legacies, &c.,] and the share of a male is double
the share of a female. 3. Brothers and sisters by the father's side
only, [when there is no brother or sister by the father and mother,]
inherit as brothers and sisters by the father and mother. 1 No dis-
tinction is made between the child of a wife and that borne by a
slave to her master (if the master acknowledge the child to be his
own) : both inherit equally. So also do the child of a wife and the
adopted child. A bastard inherits only from his mother, and vice
versa. When there is no legal heir, or legatee, the property falls to
the government- treasury, which is called " beyt el-mal." The laws
respecting certain remote degrees of kindred, &c., I have not thought
it necessary to state. 2 The property of the deceased is nominally
divided into " keer&ts " (or twenty-fourth parts) ; and the share of
each son, or other heir, is said to be so many kecnits.
The law is remarkably lenient towards debtors. " If there be any
[debtor]/' says the Kur-an, 3 "under a difficulty [of paying his debt],
let [his creditor] wait till it be easy [for him |o do it] ; but if ye
remit it as alms, it will be better for you." The Muslim is com-
manded (in the chapter from which the above extract is taken), when
he contracts a debt, to cause a statement of it to be written, and
attested by two men, or a man and two women, of his own faith.
The debtor is imprisoned for non-payment of his debt ; but if he
establish his insolvency, he is liberated. He may be compelled to
work for the discharge of his debt, if able.
The Kur-an ordains that murder shall be punished with death ;
or rather, that the free ghall die for the free, the slave for the slave,
and a woman for a woman ; or that the perpetrator of the crime shall
pay to the heirs of the person whom he has killed, if they allow it, a
fine, which is to be divided according to the laws of inheritance. 4 It
also ordains that unintentional homicide shall be expiated by freeing
a believer from slavery, and paying, to the family of the person killed,
a fine, unless they remit it. 5 But these laws are amplified and ex-
1 The portions of the ur-an upon which the a The reader may see them in D'Ohsson's work
above laws are founded are verses 12 15, and the before mentioned,
last verse, of ch. iv. 3 ch. ii. v. 280. * Ch. ii. v. 173.
Ch. iv. v. 94.
CRIMINAL LAWS. 105
plained by the same book and by the Imdms. A fine is not to be
accepted for murder unless the crime has been attended by some
palliating circumstance. This fine, which is the price of blood, is a
hundred camels ; or a thousand deendrs (about 500?.) from him who
possesses gold; or from him who possesses silver, twelve thousand
dirhems l (about 300Z.) This is for killing a free man : for a woman,
half the sum : for a slave, his or her value ; but that must fall short
of the price of blood for the free. A person unable to free a believer
must fast two months, as in Ramadan. The accomplices of a
murderer are liable to the punishment of death. By the Sunneh
also, a man is obnoxious to capital punishment for the murder of
a woman ; and by the Hanafee law, for the murder of another man's
slave. But he is exempted from this punishment who kills his own
child or other descendant, or his own slave, or his son's slave, or
a slave of whom he is part-owner : so also are his accomplices ; and
according to Esh-Sh&fe'ee, a Muslim, though a slave, is not to be put
to death for killing an infidel, though the latter be free. In the
present day, however, murder is generally punished with death ; the
government seldom allowing a composition in money to be made. A
man who kills another in self-defence, or to defend his property from
a robber, is exempt from all punishment. The price of blood is a
debt incumbent on the family, tribe, or association, of which the
homicide is a member. It is also incumbent on the inhabitants of an
enclosed quarter, or the proprietor or proprietors of a field, in which
the body of a person killed by an unknown hand is found ; unless
the person has been found killed in his own house. A woman, con-
victed of a capital crime, is generally put to death by drowning in
the Nile.
The Bedawees have made the law of the avenging of blood terribly
severe and unjust, transgressing the limits assigned by the Kur-dn :
for, with them, any single person descended from the homicide, or
from the homicide's father, grandfather, great-grandfather, or great<.
grandfather's father, may be killed by any of such relations of the
person murdered, or killed in fight ; but, among most tribes, the fine
is generally accepted instead of the blood. Cases of blood-revenge
are very common among the peasantry of Egypt, who, as I have
before remarked, retain many customs of their Bedawee ancestors.
The relations of a person who has been killed, in an Egyptian village,
1 Or, according to some, ten thousand dirhems,
106 CHAPTER III.
generally retaliate with their own hands rather than apply to the
government, and often do so with disgusting cruelty, and even
mangle and insult the corpse of their victim. The relations of a
homicide usually flee from their own to another village, for protection.
Even when retaliation has been made, animosity frequently continues
between the two parties for many years ; and often a case of blood-
revenge involves the inhabitants of two or more villages in hostilities,
which are renewed, at intervals, during the period of several
generations.
Retaliation for, unintentional wounds and mutilations is allowed,
like as for murder; " eye for eye/' &c. ; l but a fine may be accepted
instead, which the law allows also for unintentional injuries. The
fine for a member that is single (as the nose) is the whole price of
blood, as for homicide ; for a member of which there are two, and not
more (as a hand), half the price of blood; for one of which there are
ten (a finger or toe), a tenth of the price of blood : but the fine of a
man for maiming or wounding a womarji is half of that for the same
injury to a man ; and that of a free person for injuring a slave varies
according to the value of the slave. The fine for depriving a man of
any of his five senses, or dangerously wounding him, or grievously
disfiguring him for life, is the whole price of blood.
Theft, whether committed by a man or by a woman, according to
the Kur-an, a is to be punished by cutting off the offender's right
hand for the first offence; but a Sunneh law ordains that this
punishment shall not be inflicted if the value of the stolen property is
less than a quarter of a deenar ; 8 and it is also held necessary, to
render the thief obnoxious to this punishment, that the property
stolen should have been deposited in a place to which he had not
ordinary or easy access : whence it follows, that a man who steals in
the house of a near relation is not subject to this punishment ; nor is
a slave who robs the house of his master. For the second offence,
the left foot is to be cut off; for the third, according to the Shafe'ee
law, the left hand; for the fourth, the right foot; and for further
offences of the same kind, the culprit is to be flogged or beaten; or,
by the JJanafee code, for the third and subsequent offences, the
criminal is to be punished by a long imprisonment. A man may
steal a free-born infant without offending against the law, because it
1 Kur-An, ch. v. v. 49. by Marracci, and ' neglecting to examine the
* Ch. v. v. 42. Arabic text quoted by the latter, has stated the
3 The deenar is a mitral (or nearly 72 English sum in question to be four deenars.
grains) of sold, gale, copying a false translation
CRIMINAL LAWS, 107
is not property; but not a slave: and the hand is not to be cut off
for stealing any article of food that is quickly perishable ; because it
may have been taken to supply the immediate demands of hunger.
There arc also some other cases in which the thief is exempt from the
punishments above mentioned. In Egypt, of late years, these
punishments have not been inflicted. Beating and hard labour have
been substituted for the first, second, or third offence, and frequently
death for the fourth. Most petty offences are usually punished by
beating with the "*kurb%" (a thong or whip of hippopotamus' hide,
hammered into a round form,) or with a stick, generally on the soles
of the feet. 1
Adultery is most severely visited; but to establish a charge of
this crime against a wife, four eye-witnesses are necessary. 8 If
convicted thus, she is to be put to death by stoning. 8 I need
scarcely say, that cases of this kind have very seldom occurred, from
the difficulty of obtaining such testimony. 4 Further laws on this
subject, and still more favourable to the women, are given in the
Kur-dn, 5 in the following words : " But [as to] those who accuse
women of reputation, [of fornication or adultery,] and produce not
four witnesses [of the fact], scourge them with eighty stripes, and
receive not their testimony for ever; for such are infamous pre-
varicators : except those who shall afterwards repent ; for God is
gracious and merciful. They who shall accuse their wives, [of
adultery,] and shall have no witnesses [thereof] besides themselves,
the testimony [which shall be required] of one of them [shall be] that
he swear four times by God that he speaketh the truth, and the fifth
[time that he imprecate] the curse of God on him if he be a liar ; and
it shall avert the punishment [of the wife] if she swear four times by
God that he is a liar, and if the fifth [time she imprecate] the wrath
of God on her if he speak the truth/' The commentators and
lawyers have agreed that, in these circumstances, the marriage must
be dissolved. In the chapter from which the above quotation is
made, it is ordained (in verse 2) that unmarried persons convicted of
1 The feet are confined by a chain or rope at- John, viii. 4, 5.
tached at each end to a staff, which is turned * It is worthy of remark, that the circumstance
round to tighten it. This is called a " fala^ah." which occasioned the promulgation of this extra-
Two persons (one on each side) strike alter- ordinary law was an accusation of adultery pre-
nately. ferred against the Prophet's favourite wife,
* Kur-an, eh. iv. v. 19. 'Aisheh : she was thus absolved from punishment,
8 Thisisa"Suiineh" law. The law is the same and her reputation was cleared by additional
m the case of the adulterer, if married j but it is " revelations."
never enforced. See Leviticus, xx. 10, and St. 5 Ch. xxiv. vv. 49.
108 CHAPTER III.
fornication shall be punished by scourging, with a hundred stripes ;
and a Sunneh law renders them obnoxious to the further punishment
of banishment for a whole year. 1 Of the punishment of women
convicted of incontinence in Cairo, I shall speak in the next chapter ;
as it is an arbitrary act of the government, not founded on the laws of
the ICur-dn, or the Traditions. 8
Drunkenness was punished, by the Prophet, by flogging ; and is
still in Cairo, though not often : the t( hadd," or number of stripes,
for this offence, is eighty in the case of a free man, and forty in that
of a slave.
Apostacy from the faith of El-Islam is considered a most heinous
sin, and must be punished with death, unless the apostate will recant
on being, thrice warned. I once saw a woman paraded through the
streets of Cairo, and afterwards taken down to the Nile to be
drowned, for having apostatized from the faith of Mohammad, and
having married a Christian. Unfortunately, she had tattooed a blue
cross on her arm, which led to her detection by one of her former
friends in a bath. She was mounted upon a high-saddled ass, such
as ladies in Egypt usually ride, and very respectably dressed, attended
by soldiers, and surrounded by a rabble, who, instead of com-
miserating, uttered loud imprecations against her. The Kaclee, who
passed sentence upon her, exhorted her, in vain, to return to her
former faith. Her own father was her accuser ! She was taken in a
boat into the midst of the river, stripped nearly naked, strangled, and
then thrown into the stream. 3 The Europeans residing in Cairo
regretted that the Bdsha (Mohammad 'Alee) was then at Alexandria,
as they might have prevailed upon him to pardon her. Once before
they interceded with him for a woman who had been condemned for
apostacy. The Basha ordered that she should be brought before
him : he exhorted her to recant ; but finding her resolute, reproved
her for her/0%, and sent her home, commanding that no injury
should be done to her.
Still more severe is the law with respect to blasphemy. The
person who utters blasphemy against God, or Mohammad, or Christ,
i An unmarried person convicted of adultery is different fate, which will be described in the ac-
likewise obnoxious only to this punishment. The count of the domestic life and customs of the
two laws mentioned in Leviticus, xx. 13 and 15, lower orders.
have been introduced into the Muslim code; but, The conduct of the lower orders in Cairo on
in the present day, they are never executed. this occasion speaks sadly against their character.
* In the villages of Egypt, a woman found, or A song was composed on the victim of this ter-
suspected, to have been guilty of this crime, if she rible law, and became Very popular in the metro-
be not a common prostitute, often experiences a polis.
THE WAHHABEES. 109
or Moses, or any Prophet, is to be put to death without delay, even
though he profess himself repentant; repentance for such a sin being
deemed impossible. Apostacy or infidelity is occasioned by mis-
judgment ; but blasphemy is the result of utter depravity.
A few words may here be added respecting the sect of the
"Wahhdbees," also called "Wahabees," which was founded, less
than a century ago, by Mohammad Ibn-'Abd-El-Wahhab, a pious
and learned sheykh of the province of Nejd, in central Arabia.
About the middle of the last century, he had the good fortune to
convert to his creed a powerful chief of Ed-Dir'eeyeh, the capital of
Nejd. This chief, Mohammad Ibn-So'ood, became the sovereign
of the new sect, their religious and political head, and under him and
his successors the Wahhdbee doctrines were spread throughout the
greater part of Arabia, He was next succeeded by his son, 'Abd-El-
'Azeez ; next, by So'ood, the son of the latter, and the greatest of the
Wahhdbee leaders; and, lastly, by 'Abd- Allah, the son of this
So'ood, who, after an arduous warfare with the armies of Mohammad
'Alee, surrendered himself (it is said, on receiving promise of safe-
conduct and life,) to his victorious enemies, was sent to Egypt, thence
to Constantinople, and there beheaded. The wars which Mohammad
'Alee carried on against the Wahhabees had for their chief object the
destruction of the political power of the new sect: their religious
tenets are still professed by many of the Arabs, and allowed to be
orthodox by the most learned of the 'Ulama of Egypt. The
Wahhabees are merely reformers, who believe all the fundamental
points of El -Islam, and all the accessory doctrines of the Kur-an and
the Traditions of the Prophet : in short, their tenets are those of the
primitive Muslims. They disapprove of gorgeous sepulchres, nd
domes erected over tombs : such they invariably destroy when in
their power. They also condemn, as idolaters, those who pay peculiar
veneration to deceased saints ; and even declare all other Muslims to
be heretics, for the extravagant respect which they pay to the Prophet.
They forbid the wearing of silk, and gold ornaments, and all costly
apparel ; and also the practice of smoking tobacco. For the want of
this last luxury, they console themselves in some degree by an im-
moderate use of coffee. 1 There are many learned men among them,
and they have collected many valuable books (chiefly historical) from
various parts of Arabia, and from Egypt.
* Among many other erroneous statements respecting the Wahhabees, it has been asserted that tiity
prohibit the drinking of eofiee.
CHAPTER IV,
GOVERNMENT.!
EGYPT has, of late years, experienced great political changes, and
nearly ceased to be a province of the Turkish Empire. Its present
B&sha (Mohammad ; Alee), having exterminated the Ghuzz, or Mem-
looks, who shared the government with his predecessors, has rendered
himself almost an independent prince. He, however, professes
allegiance to the Sultan, and remits the tribute, according to former
custom, to Constantinople : he is, moreover, under an obligation to
respect the fundamental laws of the Kur-dn and the Traditions ; but
he exercises a dominion - otherwise unlimited. 2 He may cause any
one of his subjects to be put to death without the formality of a trial,
or without assigning any cause : a simple horizontal motion of his
hand is sufficient to imply the sentence of decapitation. But I must
not be understood to insinuate that he is prone to shed blood without
any reason : severity is a characteristic of this prince, rather than
wanton cruelty ; and boundless ambition has prompted him to almost
every action by which he has attracted either praise or censure. 8
In the Citadel of the Metropolis is a court of judicature, called
i As the political reforms effected by Moham- tration of this work. It should, however, be
mad 'Alee will always be extremely interesting, mentioned, that the people of Egypt are not now
and as the changes made in his institutions by his allowed to indulge in that excessive fanatical
successors have been inconsiderable, and gene- rudeness with which they formerly treated Chris-
rally the contrary of improvements, I retain here, tians and Jews ; and hence European travellers
without any essential alteration, an account of the have one great cause for gratitude to Mohammad
government of Egypt written in the years 1834 'Alee. Bestraint may, at first, increase, but will
and 1835, during the best period of his rule, probably, in the course of time, materially di-
* Though his territory was greatly lessened rainish, the feeling of fanatical intolerance. This
since the above was written, his power in Egypt prediction has not yet been fulfilled : on the con-
remained nearly the same. trary, European innovations in the- dress and
8 The government of Egypt, from the period of domestic manners and customs of the grandees,
the conquest of this country by the Arabs, has and of persons in the employ of the government,
been nearly the same as it is at present in its in- have enormously increased the fanaticism of those
fluence on the manners and customs and charac- who belong to the religious and learned profes-
ter of the inhabitants ; and I therefore do not sions, and, generally speaking, of the bulk of the
deem a historical retrospect necessary to the illus- population.
GOVERNMENT 111
"ed-Deewfin el-Khideewee/' 1 where, in the B&sha's absence, presides
his " Kikhya," 2 or deputy, liabeeb Efendee. In cases which do not
fall within the province of the Iadee, or which are sufficiently clear
to be decided without referring them to the court of that officef, or to
another council, the president of the Deewdn el-Khideewee passes
judgment. Numerous guard-houses have been established throughout
the metropolis, at each of which is stationed a body of Niz&m, or
regular troops. The guard is called " Kulluk," 3 or, more commonly,
at present, " Kara-kol." 4 Persons accused of thefts, assaults, &c., in
Cairo, are given in charge to a soldier of the guard, who takes them
to the chief guard-house, in the Mooskee, a street in that part of the
town in which most of the Franks reside. The charges being here
stated, and committed to writing, he conducts them to the " Za*bit,"
or chief magistrate of the police of the metropolis. The Zdbit,
having heard the case, sends the accused for trial to the Deewan
el-Khideewee. a When a person denies the offence with which he is
charged, and there is not sufficient evidence to convict him, but some
ground of suspicion, he is generally bastinaded, in order to induce
him to confess ; and then, if not before, when the crime is not of a
nature that renders him obnoxious to a very heavy punishment, he, if
guilty, admits it. A thief, after this discipline, generally confesses,
" The devil seduced me, and I took it.-" The punishment of the
convicts is regulated by a system of arbitrary, but lenient and wise,
policy : it usually consists in their being compelled to labour, for a
scanty sustenance, in some of the public works ; such as the removal
of rubbish, digging canals, &c. ; and sometimes the army is recruited
with able-bodied young men convicted of petty offences. In employ-
ing malefactors in labours for the improvement of the country,
Mohammad 'Alee merits the praises bestowed upon Sabacon, the
Ethiopian conqueror and king of Egypt, who is said to have in-
troduced this policy. The IMsha is, however, very severe in punishing
thefts, &c., committed against himself: death is the usual penalty
in such cases.
There are several inferior councils for conducting the affairs of
i "Khideewee" is a relative adjective formed this and similar courts, and the proceedings are
from the Turkish Khideev," which signifies "a conducted with little decorum. Many Turkish
prince." officers, even of the highest rank, make use of
8 Thus pronounced in Egypt, but more pro- language far too disgusting for me to mention,
perly " Kyahya," or " Ketkhud'a." towards persons brought before them for judg-
From the Turkish " ool-lulf ." ment, and towards those who appeal to them for
* Vulgarly, " Karakdn.'" justice.
5 A very arbitrary power is often exercised in
112 CHAPTER IV.
different departments of the administration. The principal of these
are the following: 1. The "Meglis el-Meshwarah m (the Council
of Deliberation) ; also called " Meglis el-Meshwarah el-Melekeeyeh "
(the Council of Deliberation on the Affairs of the State), to dis-
tinguish it from other councils. The members of this and of the
other similar councils are chosen by the Basha, for their talents or
other qualifications; and consequently his will and interest sway
them in all their decisions. They are his instruments, and compose a
committee for presiding over the general government of the country,
and the commercial and agricultural affairs of the Edsha. Petitions,
&c., addressed to the Bdsha, or to his Deewan, relating to private
interests or the affairs of the government, are generally submitted to
their consideration and judgment, unless they more properly come
under the cognizance of other councils hereafter to be mentioned.
2. The Meglis el-Gihadeeyeh " (the Council of the Army); also
called " Meglis el-Meshwarah el-' Askereeyeh " (the Council of De-
liberation on Military Affairs). The province of this court is suffi-
ciently shewn by its name. 3. The Council of the " Tarskhaneh,"
or Navy. 4. The " Deewan et-Tuggar" (or Court of the Merchants).
This court, the members- of which are merchants of various countries
and religions, presided over by the " Shdh-Bandar " (or chief of the
merchants of Cairo), was instituted in consequence of the laws of the
Kur-&n and the Sunneh being found not sufficiently explicit in some
cases arising out of modern commercial transactions.
The " K&dee " (or chief judge) of Cairo presides in Egypt only a
year, at the expiration of which term, a new Kdee having arrived
from Constantinople, the former returns. It was customary for this
officer to proceed from Cairo, with the great caravan of pilgrims,
to Mekkeh, perform the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, and remain
one year as K&dee of the holy city, and one year at El-Medeeneh.*
He purchases his place privately of the government, which pays no
particular regard to his qualifications ; though he must be a man of
some knowledge, an 'Osmfinlee (that is, a Turk), and of the sect
of the Hanafees. His tribunal is called the " Mahkemeh-" 8 (or Place
of Judgment). Few Iddees are very well acquainted with the Arabic
language; nor is it necessary for them to have such knowledge. In
Cairo, the Kdee has little or nothing to do but to confirm the
i Pronounced " Meshwar'ah," Mol^arram, has of late been fixed upon, instead of
8 He used to arrive in Cairo in the beginning of the former period.
fiama4an; but the beginning of the first month, Pronounced Makkem'eh."
GOVERNMENT. 113
sentence of his " Naib " (or deputy), who hears and decides the more
ordinary cases, and whom he chooses from among the 'Ulama of
Istambool, or the decision of the " Muftee " (or chief doctor of the
law) of his own sect, who constantly resides in Cairo, and gives
judgment in all cases of difficulty. But in general, the Naib is, at
the best, but little conversant with the popular dialect of Egypt ;
therefore, in Cairo, where the chief proportion of the litigants at the
Mahkemeh are Arabs, the judge must place the utmost confidence in
the " Bash-Turguman " (or Chief Interpreter), whose place is perma-
nent, and who is consequently well acquainted with all the customs
of the court, particularly with the system of bribery ; and this know-
ledge he is generally very ready to communicate to every new Kdee
and N&i'b. A man may be grossly ignorant of the law in many im-
portant particulars, and yet hold the office of Kaclee of Cairo : several
instances of this kind have occurred; but the Naib must be a lawyer
of learning and experience.
When a person has a suit to prefer at the Mahkemeh against
another individual or party, he goes thither, and applies to the
" B&sh-Rusul " (or chief of the bailiffs or sergeants who execute
arrests) for a " Rasool " to arrest the accused. The Rasool receives
a piaster or two, 1 and generally gives half of this fee privately to his
chief. The plaintiff and defendant then present themselves in the
great hall of the Mahkemeh; which is a large saloon, facing a
spacious court, and having an open front, formed by a row of columns
and arches. Here are seated several officers called " Shahids," whose
business is to hear and write the statements of the cases to be sub-
mitted to judgment, and who are under the authority of the " B&sh-
Katib " (or Chief Secretary). The plaintiff, 'addressing any one of the
Shahids whom he finds unoccupied, states his case, and the Shahid
commits it to writing, and receives a. fee of a piaster or more ; after
which, if the case be of a trifling nature, and the defendant acknow-
ledge the justice of the suit, he (the Shahid) passes sentence; but
otherwise he conducts the two parties before the Nib, who holds his
court in an inner apartment. The Naib, having heard the case,
desires the plaintiff to procure a "fetwa"" (or judicial decision) from
the Muftee of the sect of the Hanafees, who receives a fee, seldom
less than ten piasters, and often more than a hundred or two hundred.
This is the course pursued in all cases but those of a very trifling
The Egyptian piaster, when this was written, was equivalent to the fifth part of a shilling, or 2
Q
114 CHAPTER IV.
nature, which are settled with less trouble, by the Nd'ib alone, and
those of great importance or intricacy. A case of the latter kind is
tried in the private apartment of the Kadee, before the K&dee
himself, the Na'ib, and the Muftee of the Hanafees, who is summoned
to hear it, and to give his decision ; and sometimes, in cases of very
great difficulty or moment, several of the 'Ulama of Cairo are, in like
manner, summoned. % The Muftee hears the case, and writes his
sentence; and the Kadee confirms his judgment, and stamps the
paper with his seal, which is all that he has to do in any case. The
accused may clear himself by his oath, when the plaintiff has not
witnesses to produce : placing his right hand on a copy of the
Kur-a"n, which is held out to him, he says, " By God, the Great,"
three times; adding, " By what is contained in this of the word of
God." The witnesses must be men of good repute, or asserted to be
such, and not interested in the cause : in every case, at least two
witnesses are requisite 1 (or one man and two women) ; and each of
these must be attested to be a person of probity by two others. An
infidel cannot lawfully bear witness against a Muslim in a case
involving capital or other heavy punishment ; and evidence in favour
of a son or grandson, or of a father or grandfather, is not received ;
nor is the testimony of slaves ; neither can a master testify in favour
of his slave.
The fees, until lately, used to be paid by the successful party ; but
now they are paid by the other party. The Kddee's fees for decisions
in cases respecting the sale of property are two per cent, on the amount
of the property : in cases of legacies, four per cent., except when
the heir is an orphan not of age, who pays only two per cent. For
decisions respecting property in houses or land, when the cost of the
property in question is known, his fees are two per cent. ; but when
the cost is not known, one year's rent. These are the legitimate fees ;
but more than the due amount is often exacted. In cases which do
not concern property, the Kdee ; s -N&ib fixes the amount of the fees.
There are also other fees than those of the K&dee to be paid after the
decision of the case : for instance, if the K^dee's fees be two or three
hundred piasters, a fee of about two piasters must be paid to the
Bdsh-Turgumdn ; about the same to the Bash-Rusul ; and one piaster
to the Rasool, or to each Rasool employed.
The rank of a plaintiff or defendant, or a bribe from either, often
1 This law is borrowed from the Pentateuch. See Deut. xix. 15. A man may refuse to give his
testimony.
GOVERNMENT. 115
influences the decision of the judge. In general the Naib and Muftee
take bribes, and the Kadee receives from his Na'ib. On some occa-
sions, particularly in long litigations, bribes are given by each party,
and the decision is awarded in favour of hirn who pays highest. This
frequently happens in difficult law-suits ; and even in cases respecting
which the law is perfectly clear, strict justice is not always adminis-
tered ; bribes and false testimony being employed by one of the
parties. The shocking extent to which the practices of bribery and
suborning false witnesses are carried in Muslim courts of law, and
among them in the tribunal of the Kadee of Cairo, may be scarcely
credited on the bare assertion of the fact : some strong proof, resting
on indubitable authority, may be demanded ; and here I shall give
such proof, in a summary of a case which was tried not long since,
and which was related to me by the Secretary and Imam of the
Sheykh El-Mahdee, who was then supreme Muftee of Cairo (being
the chief Muftee of the Hanafees), and to whom this case was referred
after judgment in the Kadee' s court.
A Turkish merchant, residing at Cairo, died, leaving property to
the amount of six thousand purses, 1 and no relation to inherit but
one daughter. The seyyid Mohammad El-Mahrookee, the Shali-
Bandar (chief of the merchants of Cairo), hearing of this event,
suborned a common fellah, who was the bowwab (or door-keeper) of
a respected sheykh, and whose parents (both of them Arabs) were
known to many persons, to assert himself a son of a brother of the
deceased. The case was brought before the Kadee, and, as it was
one of considerable importance, several of the principal 'Ulama of the
city were summoned to decide it. They were all bribed or influenced
by El-Mahrookee, as will presently be shewn ; false witnesses were
brought forward to swear to the truth of the bowwab's pretensions,
and others to give testimony to the good character of these witnesses.
Three thousand purses were adjudged to the daughter of the deceased,
and the other half of the property to the bowwab. El-Mahrookee
received the share of the latter, deducting only three hundred
piasters, which he presented to the bowwab. The chief Muftee,
El-Mahdee, was absent from Cairo when the case was tried. On his
return to the metropolis, a few days after, the daughter of the
deceased merchant repaired to his house, stated her case to him, and
earnestly solicited redress. The Muftee, though convinced of the
i A purse is the sum of five hundred piasters, aud was then equivalent to nearly seven pounds
s>terlin& but is now equal to only live pounds.
116 CHAFfEK IV.
injustice which she had suffered, and not doubting the truth of what
she related respecting the part which El-Mahrookee had taken in this
affair, told her that he feared* it was impossible for him to annul the
judgment, unless there were some informality in the proceedings of
the court, but that he would look at the record of the case in the
register of the Mahkemeh. Having done this, he betook himself to
the Bdsha, with whom he was in great favour for his knowledge and
inflexible integrity, and complained to him that the tribunal of
the K&dee was disgraced by the administration of the most flagrant
injustice ; that false witness was admitted by the 'Ulama, however
evident and glaring it might be ; and that a judgment which they
had given in a late case, during his absence, was the general talk and
wonder of the town. The Basha summoned the Kadee and all the
'Ulama who had tried this case, to meet the Muftee in the Citadel;
and when they had assembled there, addressed them, as from himself,
with the Muftee' s complaint. The Kaclee, appearing, like the 'Ulaina,
highly indignant at this charge, demanded to know upon what it was
grounded. The Basha replied that it was a general charge, but par-
ticularly grounded on the case in which the court had admitted the
claim of a bowwab to a relationship and inheritance which they could
not believe to be his right. The Kadee here urged that he had
passed sentence in accordance with the unanimous decision of the
'Ulama then present. " Let the record of the case be read/' said
the Basha. The journal being sent for, this was done; and when
the secretary had finished reading the minutes, the Kadee, in a loud
tone of proud authority, said, "And I judged so." The Muftee, in
a louder and more authoritative tone, exclaimed, " And thy judgment
is false !" All eyes were fixed in astonishment, now at the Muftee,
now at the Basha, now at the other 'Ulama. The Kadee and
the 'Ulama rolled their heads and stroked their beards. The former
exclaimed, tapping his breast, " I, the K&clee of Misr, pass a false
sentence !" "And we," said the 'Ulama, "we, Sheykh Mahdee!
we, 'Ulama el-Isldm, give a false decision !" " Sheykh Mahdee/'
said El-Mahrookee (who, from his commercial transactions with the
Bfcha, could generally obtain a place in his councils), "respect the
'Ulaina as they respect tbee." "0 Mahrookee," exclaimed the
Muftee, " art thou concerned in this affair ? Declare what part thou
hast in it, or else hold thy peace : go, speak in the assemblies of
the merchants, but presume not again to open thy mouth in the
council of the 'Ulama !" El-Mahrookce immediately left the palace,
GOVERNMENT. 117
for he saw how the affair would terminate, and had to make his ar-
rangements accordingly. The Muftee was now desired, by the other
'Ulama, to adduce a proof of the invalidity of their decision. Draw-
ing from his bosom a small book on the laws of inheritance, he read
from it, " To establish a claim to relationship and inheritance, the
names of the father and mother of the claimant, and those of his
father's father and mother, and of his mother's father and mother,
must be ascertained." The names of the father and mother of the
pretended father of the bowwab the false witnesses had not been
prepared to give ; and this deficiency in the testimony (which the
'Ulama, in trying the case, purposely overlooked,) now caused the
sentence to be annulled. The bowwab was brought before the
council, and, denying the imposition of which he had been made
the principal instrument, was, by order of the B&sha, very severely
bastiriaded ; but the only confession that could be drawn from him by
the torture which he endured was, that he had received nothing more
of the three thousand purses than three hundred piasters. Mean-
while, El-Mahrookee had repaired to the bowwab's master : he told
the latter what had happened at the Citadel, and what he had
foreseen would be the result, put into his hand three thousand purses,
and begged him immediately to go to the council, give this sum of
money, and say that it had been placed in his hands in trust by his
servant. This was done, and the money was paid to the daughter of
the deceased.
In another case, when the Kadee and the council of the 'Ulama
were influenced in their decision by a Basha (not Mohammad 'Alee),
and passed a sentence contrary to law, they were thwarted in the
same manner by El-Mahdee. This Muftee was a rare example of
integrity. It is said that he never took a fee for a fetwa. He died
shortly after my first visit to this country. I could mention several
other glaring cases of bribery in the court of the Kadee of Cairo ;
but the above is sufficient.
There are five minor Mahkemehs in Cairo ; and likewise one at
its principal port, Bool&k; and one at its southern port, Masr el-
'Ateekah. A Sh&hid from the great Mahkemeh presides at each of
them, as deputy of the chief Kadee, who confirms their acts. The
matters submitted to these minor tribunals are chiefly respecting the
sales of property, and legacies, marriages, and divorces; for the
ICddee marries female orphans under age who have no relations of
age to act as their guardians ; and wives often have recourse to law to
118 CHAPTER IV.
compel their husbands to divorce them. In every country-town
there is also a Kadee, generally a native of the place, and never a
Turk, who decides all cases, sometimes from his own knowledge of
the law, but commonly on the authority of a Muftee. One Kadee
generally serves for two or three or more villages.
Each of the four orthodox sects of the Muslims (the Hanafees,
Shdfe'ees, Malikees, and IJambelees,) has its " Sheykh," or religious
chief, who is chosen from among the most learned of the body, and
resides in the metropolis. The Sheykh of the great mosque El-
Azhar (who is always of the sect of the Shafe'ees, and sometimes
Sheykh of that sect), together with the other Sheykhs above men-
tioned, and the Kadee, the Nakeeb el-Ashraf (the chief of the Shereefs,
or descendants of the Prophet), and several other persons, constitute
the council of the 'Ulama 1 (or learned men), by whom the Turkish
B&shas and Memlook chiefs have often been kept in awe, and by
whom their tyranny has frequently been restricted : but now this
learned body has lost almost all its influence over the government.
Petty disputes are often, by mutual consent of the parties at variance,
submitted to the judgment of one of the four Sheykhs ^first men-
tioned, as they are the chief Muftees of their respective sects; and
the utmost deference is always paid to them. Difficult and delicate
causes, which concern the laws of the Kur-an or the Traditions, are
also frequently referred by the Bash a to these Sheykhs ; but their
opinion is not always followed by him : for instance, after con-
sulting them respecting the legality of dissecting human bodies, for
the sake of acquiring anatomical knowledge, and receiving their de-
claration that it was repugnant to the laws of the religion, he, never-
theless, has caused it to be practised by Muslim students of anatomy.
The police of the metropolis is more under the direction of the
military than of the civil power. A few years ago it was under the
authority of the f ' W&lee " and the " Zabit ;" but since my first visit
to this country the office of the former has been abolished. He was
charged with the apprehension of thieves and other criminals ; and
under his jurisdiction were the public women, of whom he kept a list,
and from each of whom he exacted a tax. He also took cognizance of
the conduct of the women in general ; and when he found a female to
have been guilty of a single act of incontinence, he added her name to
the list of the public women, and demanded from her the tax, unless
J In the singular " 'Alira." This title is more European writers generally use the plural form of
particularly given to a professor of jurisprudence. this appellation for the singular.
GOVERNMENT. 119
she preferred, or could afford, to escape that ignominy, by giving to
him, or to his officers, a considerable bribe. This course was always
pursued, and is still, by a person who farms the tax of the public
women, 1 in the case of unmarried females, and generally in the case of
the married also ; but the latter are sometimes privately put to death,
if they cannot, by bribery or some other artifice, save themselves.
Such proceedings are, however, in two points, contrary to the law,
which ordains that a person who accuses a woman of adultery or
fornication, without producing four witnesses of the crime, shall be
scourged with eighty stripes, and decrees other punishments than
those of degradation and tribute against women convicted of such
offences.
The office of the Zabi^ has before been mentioned. He is now
the chief of the police/ His officers, who have no distinguishing
mark to render them known as such, are interspersed through the
metropolis : they often visit the coffee-shops, and observe the conduct,
and listen to the conversation, of the citizens. Many of them are
pardoned thieves. They accompany the military guards in their
nightly rounds through the streets of the metropolis. Here, none but
the blind are allowed to go out at night later than about an hour and
a half after sunset, without a lantern or a light of some kind. Few
persons are seen in the streets later than two or three hours after
sunset. At the fifth or sixth hour, one might pass through the whole
length of the metropolis and scarcely meet more than a dozen or
twenty persons, except the watchmen and guards, and the porters at
the gates of the by-streets and quarters. The sentinel, or guard, calls
out to the approaching passenger, in Turkish, " Who is that ?"* and
is answered, in Arabic, a A citizen." 3 The private watchman, in the
same case, exclaims, " Attest the unity of God,"* or merely, "Attest
the unity." 5 The reply given to this is, " There is no deity but
God," 6 which Christians, as well as Muslims, object not to say; the
former understanding these words in a different sense from the latter.
It is supposed that a thief, or a person bound on any unlawful un-
dertaking, would not dare to utter these words. Some persons loudly
exclaim, in reply to the summons of the watchman, " There is no
deity but God : Mohammad is God's Apostle." The private watch-
* Since this was written, the public women * " Wahhed All&h."
throughout Egypt have been compelled to rejin- 5 "Walked;" or, to more than one person,
quish their licentious profession. " Wafytyedoo."
* " Keemen dur 6," for " keem dur 6." 6 " La ilaha illa-lUh."
3 " Ibn-beled." If blind, he answers " Aama."
120 CHAPTER IV.
men are employed to guard, by night, the sooks (or market-streets)
and other districts of the town. They carry a nebboot (or long staff),
but no lantern.
The Zabit, or Agha of the police, used frequently to go about the
metropolis by night, often accompanied only by the executioner and
the ' e shealegee," 1 or bearer of a kind of torch called "shealeh,"
which is still in use. 2 This torch burns, soon after it is lighted,
without a flame, except when it is waved through the air, when it
suddenly blazes forth : it therefore answers the same purpose as our
dark lantern. The burning end is sometimes concealed in a small
pot or jar, or covered with something else, when not required to give
light ; but it is said that thieves often smell it in time to escape
meeting the bearer. When a person without a light is met by the
police at night, he seldom attempts resistance or flight ; the punish-
ment to which he is liable is beating. The chief of the police had an
arbitrary power to put any criminal or offender to death without trial,
and when not obnoxious, by law, to capital punishment ; and so also
had many inferior officers, as will be seen in subsequent pages of this
work : but within the last two or three years, instances of the exercise
of such power have been very rare, and I believe they would not now
be permitted. The officers of the Zabit perform their nightly rounds
with the military guards merely as being better acquainted than the
latter with the haunts atid practices of thieves and other bad cha-
racters; and the Zabit himself scarcely ever exercises any penal
authority beyond that of beating or flogging.
Very curious measures, such as we read of in some of the tales of
'the Thousand and One Nights/ were often adopted by the police
magistrates of Cairo, to discover an offender, before the late inno-
vations. I may mention an instance. The authenticity of the
following case, and of several others of a similar ' nature, is well
known. I shall relate it in the manner in which I have heard it
told. A poor man applied one day to the Agha of the police,
and said, " Sir, there came to me, to-day, a woman, and she said
to me, ' Take this " kurs," 3 * and let it remain in your possession
for a time, and lend me five hundred piasters :' and I took it from
1 Pronounced " shealeg'ee." is described ajid figured in Chapter VI. of this
8 "Baron Hammer-Purgstall is mistaken in sub- work.
stituting " meschaaledschi " for " shealegee." The 3 An ornament worn on the'crown of the head-
officer who bears the latter appellation does not dress by women, described in the Appendix to this
carry a mesh'al, but a twisted torch: The mesh'al work.
GOVERNMENT. 121
her, Sir, and gave her the five hundred piasters, and she went away :
and when she was gone away, I said to myself, ' Let me look at this
kurs :* and I looked at it, and, behold, it was yellow brass : and I
slapped my face, and said, ' I will go to the Agha, and relate my
story to him : perhaps he will investigate the affair, and clear it up /
for there is none that can help me in this matter but thou." The
Agha said to him, " Hear what I tell thee, man. Take whatever is
in thy shop; leave nothing; and lock it up; and to-morrow
morning go early, and, when thou hast opened the shop, cry out,
' Alas for my property P then take in thy hands two clods, and beat
thyself with them, and cry, ' Alas for the property of others!' and
whoever says to thee, 'What is the matter with thee?' do thou
answer, 'The property of others is lost : a pledge that I had, belong-
ing to a woman, is lost ; if it were my own, I should not thus lament
it :' and this will clear up the affair." The man promised to do as
he was desired. He removed everything from his shop, and early the
next morning he went and opened it, and began to cry out, " Alas
for the property of others \" and he took two clods, and beat himself
with them, and went about every district of the city, crying, ''Alas
for the property of others ! a pledge that I had, belonging to a
woman, is lost ; if it were my own, I should not thus lament it."
The woman who had given him the kurs in pledge heard of this, and
discovered that it was the man whom she had cheated ; so she said to
herself, " Go and bring an action against him." She went to his
shop, riding on an ass, to give herself consequence, and said to him,
" Man, give me my property that is in thy possession." He
answered, " It is lost." " Thy tongue be cut out 1" she cried :
" dost thou lose my property ? By Allah ! I will go to the Agha,
and inform him of it." " Go," said he ; and she went, and told her
case. The Agha sent for the man ; and, when he had come, said to
his accuser, "What is thy property in his possession?" She
answered, "A kurs of red Venetian gold." "Woman," said the
Agha, " I have a gold kurs here : I should like to shew it thee."
She said, " Shew it me, Sir, for I shall know my kurs." The Agha
then untied a handkerchief, and, taking out of it the kurs which she
had given in pledge, said, " Look." She looked at it and knew it,
and hung down her head. The Agha said, " Raise thy head, and
say where are the five hundred piasters of this man." She answered,
" Sir, they are in my house." The executioner was sent with her to
her house, but without his sword ; and the woman, having gone into
R
122 CHAPTER IV.
the house, brought out a purse containing the money, and went back
with him. The money was given to the man from whom it had been
obtained, and the executioner was then ordered to take the woman to
the Rumeyleh (a large open place below the Citadel), and there to
behead her; which he did.
The markets of Cairo, and the weights and measures, are under
the inspection of an officer called the " Mohtesib." 1 He occasionally
rides about the town, preceded by an officer who carries a large pair
of scales, and followed by the executioners and numerous other
servants. Passing by shops, or through the markets, he orders each
shopkeeper, one after another, or sometimes only one here and there,
to produce his scales, weights, and measures, and tries whether they
be correct. He also inquires the prices of provisions at the shops
where such articles are sold. Often, too, he stops a servant, or other
passenger, in the street, whom he may chance to meet carrying any
article of food that he has just bought, and asks him for what sum,
or at what weight, he purchased it. When he finds that a shopkeeper
has incorrect scales, weights, or measures, or that he has sold a thing
deficient in weight, or above the regular market price, he punishes
him on the spot. The general punishment is beating or flogging.
Once I saw a man tormented in a different way, for selling bread
deficient in weight. A hole was bored through his nose, and a cake
of bread, about a span wide, and a finger's breadth in thickness, was
suspended to it by a piece of string. He was stripped naked, with
the exception of having a piece of linen about his loins, and tied, with
his arms bound behind him, to the bars of a window of a mosque
called the Ashrafeeyeh, in the main street of the metropolis, his feet
resting upon the sill. He remained thus about three hours, exposed
to the gaze of the multitude which thronged the street, and to the
scorching rays of tlie sun.
A person who was appointed Mohtesib shortly after my first visit
to this country (Mustafa Kdshif, a Kurd,) exercised his power in a
most brutal manner, clipping men's ears (that is, cutting off the lobe,
or ear-lap), not only for the most trifling transgression, but often for
no offence whatever. He once met an old man, driving along several
asses laden with water-melons, and, pointing to one of the largest of
these fruits, asked its price. The old man put his finger and thumb
to his ear-lap, and said, " Cut it, Sir." He was asked again and
Pronounced " Mol^tes'ib."
GOVERNMENT, 123
again, and gave the same answer. The Mohtesib, angry, but unable
to refrain from laughing, said, " Fellow, are you mad or deaf?"
"No," replied the old man, "I am neither mad nor deaf; but I
know that, if I were to say the price of the melon is ten faddahs, you
would say, Clip his ear ;' and if I said five faddahs, or one faddah,
you would say, ' Clip his ear ;' therefore clip it at once, and let me
pass on." His humour saved him. Clipping ears was the usual
punishment inflicted by this Mohtesib ; but sometimes he tortured in
a different manner. A butcher, who had sold some meat wanting
two ounces of its due weight, he punished by cutting off two ounces
of flesh from his back. A seller of "kundfeh" (a kind of paste
resembling vermicelli) having made his customers pay a trifle more
than was just, he caused him to be stripped, and seated upon the
round copper tray on which the kunafeh was baked, and kept so until
he was dreadfully burnt. He generally punished dishonest butchers
by putting a hook through the nose, and hanging a piece of meat
to it. Meeting, one day, a man carrying a large crate full of earthern
water-bottles from Semennood, which he offered for sale as made at
Kine, he caused his attendants to break each bottle separately against
the vender's head. Mustafa Kdshif also exercised his tyranny in
other cases than those which properly fell under his jurisdiction. He
once took a fancy to send one of his horses to a bath, and desired the
keeper of a bath in his neighbourhood to prepare for receiving it, and
to wash it well, and make its coat very smooth. The bath-keeper,
annoyed at so extraordinary a command, ventured to suggest that, as
the pavements of the bath were of marble, the horse might slip, and
fall; and also, that it might take cold on going out; and that it
would, therefore, be better for him to convey to the stable the con-
tents of the cistern of the bath in buckets, and there to perform the
operation. Mustafa K&shif said, " I see how it is ; you do not like
that my horse should go into your bath." He desired some of his
servants to throw him down, and beat him with staves till he
should tell them to stop. They did so ; and beat the poor man till
he died.
A few years ago there used to be carried before the Mohtesib, when
going his rounds to examine the weights and measures, &c., a pair of
scales larger than that used at present. Its beam, it is said, was a
hollow tube, containing some quicksilver; by means of which the
bearer, knowing those persons who had bribed his master, and those
who had not, easily made either scale preponderate.
124 CHAPTER IV.
As the Molitesib is the overseer of the public markets, so there are
officers who have a similar charge in superintending each branch
of the B&sha's trade and manufactures; and some "Of these persons
have been known to perpetrate most abominable acts of tyranny and
cruelty. One of this class, who was named 'Alee Bey, "Nazir
el-Kumdsh" (or Overseer of the Linen), when he found a person in
possession of a private loom, or selling the produce of such a loom,
generally bound him up in a piece of his linen, soaked in oil and tar ;
then suspended him, thus enveloped, to a branch of a tree, and set
light to the wrapper. After having destroyed a number of men in
this horrible manner, he was himself, among many others, burnt to
death, by the explosion of a powder-magazine on the northern slope
of the Citadel" of Cairo, in 1824, the year before my first arrival in
Egypt. A friend of mine, who spoke to me of the atrocities of this
monster, added, " When his corpse was taken to be buried, the
Sheykh El-'Aroosee (who was Sheykh of the great mosque El-Azhar)
recited the funeral prayers over it, in the mosque of the Hasaneyn ;
and I acted as 'muballigh' (to repeat the words of the Imam):
when the Sheykh uttered the words, ' Give your testimony respecting
him,' and when I had repeated them, no one of all the persons present,
and they were many, presumed to give the answer, ( He was of the
virtuous :' all were silent. To make the circumstance more glaring,
I said again, ' Give your testimony respecting him :' but not an
answer was heard ; and the Sheykh, in confusion, said, but in a very
low voice, ' May God have mercy upon him.' *Now we may certainly
say of this cursed man," continued my friend, " that he is gone to hell :
yet his wife is constantly having ' khatmehs' (recitations of the Kur-an)
performed in her house for him ; and lights two wax candles for his
sake, every evening, at the niche of the mosque of the Hasaneyn."
Every quarter in the metropolis has its sheykh, called " Sheykh
el-Harah," whose influence is exerted to maintain order, to settle any
trifling disputes among the inhabitants, and to expel those who
disturb the peace of their neighbours. The whole of the metropolis
is also divided into eight districts, over each of which is a sheykh,
called " Sheykh et-Tumn."
The members of various trades and manufactures in the metropolis
and other large towns have also their respective sheykhs, to whom all
disputes respecting matters connected with those trades or crafts are
submitted for arbitration ; and whose sanction is required for the
admission of new members.
GOVERNMENT. 125
The servants in the metropolis are likewise under the authority of
particular sheykhs. Any person in want of a servant may procure
one by applying to one of these officers, who, for a small fee (two or
three piasters), becomes responsible for the conduct of the man
whom he recommends. Should a servant so engaged rob his
master, the latter gives information to the sheykh, who, whether
he can recover the stolen property or not, must indemnify the
master.
Even the common thieves used, not many years since, to respect a
superior, who was called their sheykh. He was often required to
search for stolen goods, and to bring offenders to justice; which he
generally accomplished. It is very remarkable that the same strange
system prevailed among the ancient Egyptians. 1
The Coptic Patriarch, who is the head of his church, judges
petty causes among his people in the metropolis; and the inferior
clergy do the same in other places ; but an appeal may be made to
the Kaclee. A Muslim aggrieved by a Copt may demand justice
from the Patriarch or the Kadee : a Copt who seeks redress from a
Muslim must apply to the K&dee. The Jews are similarly circum-
stanced. The Franks, or Europeans in general, are not answerable to
any other authority than that of their respective consuls, except when
they are aggressors against a Muslim : they are then surrendered to
the Turkish authorities, who, on the other hand, must be appealed to
by the Frank who is aggrieved by a Muslim.
The inhabitants of the country towns and villages are under the
government of Turkish officers and of their own countrymen. The
whole of Egypt is divided into several large provinces, each of which
is governed by an 'Osmdnlee (i. e. a Turk) ; and these provinces are
subdivided into districts, which are governed by native officers, with
the titles of " Ma-moor " and " Nazir." Every village, as well as
town, has also its sheykh, called " Sheykh el-Beled ;" who is one of
the native Muslim inhabitants. All the officers above mentioned,
except the last, were formerly Turks ; and there were other Turkish
governors of small districts, who were called " Kashifs," and " Kd'im-
makdms :" the change was made very shortly before my second
visit to this country; and the Felldheen complain that their con-
dition is worse than it was before : but it is generally from the
tyranny of their great Turkish governors that they suffer most severely*
1 Sec Diodorus Sieulue, lib. i. cap. 80.
126 CHAPTER IV.
The following case will convey some idea of the condition of
Egyptian peasants in some provinces. A Turk/ infamous for many
barbarous acts, presiding at the town of Tanta, 2 in the Delta, went
one night to the government granary of that town, and, finding two
peasants sleeping there, asked them who they were, and what was
their business in that place. One of them said that he had brought
130 ardebbs of corn from a village of the district ; and the other, that
he had brought 60 ardebbs from the land belonging to the town.
" You rascal !" said the governor to the latter ; " this man brings 130
ardebbs from the lands of a small village ; and you bring but 60 from
the lands of the town." " This man," answered the peasant of Tanta,
" brings corn but once a week ; and I am now bringing it every
day." "Be silent!" said the governor; and, pointing to a neigh-
bouring tree, he ordered one of the servants of the granary to hang
the peasant to one of its branches. The order was obeyed, and the
governor returned to his house. The next morning he went again to
the granary, and saw a man bringing in a large quantity of com. He
asked who he was, and what quantity he had brought; and was
answered, by the hangman of the preceding night, " This is the man,
Sir, whom I hanged by your orders, last night ; and he has brought
160 ardebbs." "What!" exclaimed the governor: "has he risen
from the dead ?" He was answered, " No, Sir ; I hanged him so
that his toes touched the ground ; and when you were gone, I untied
the rope : you did not order me to kill him." The Turk muttered,
" Aha ! hanging and killing are different things : Arabic is copious :
next time I will say kill. Take care of Aboo-D-ood." 8 This is his
nickname.
Another occurrence may here be aptly related, as a further illustra-
tion of the nature of the government to which the people of Egypt
are subjected. A fellah, who was appointed Nazir (or governor) of
the district of El-Manoofeeyeh (the southernmost district of the
Delta), a short time before my second visit to Egypt, in collecting the
taxes at a village, demanded of a poor peasant the sum of sixty riyals
(ninety facldahs each, making a sum total of a hundred and thirty-
five piasters, which was then equivalent to about thirty shillings).
i Suleyman Agha, the Silaljdar : he has died used by the Egyptian peasants iiv general, not as
since this was written. signifying "Father of Da-ood," "Father of
* Thus commonly pronounced in the present 'Alec," &c., but " whose father is (or was)
day; formerly, '"Taudete." Dd-ood," " 'Alec," c.
3 Aboo-Da*ood, Aboo-' Alee, &c., are patronymics,
GOVERNMENT. 127
The poor man urged that he possessed nothing but a cow, which
barely afforded sustenance to himself and his family. Instead of
pursuing the method usually followed when a fellah declares himself
unable to pay the tax demanded of him, which is to give him a severe
bastinading, the -Ndzir, in this case, sent the Sheykh el-Beled
to bring the poor peasant's cow, and desired some of the fellaheen to
buy it. They saying that they had not sufficient money, he sent for
a butcher, and desired him to kill the cow; which was done : he then
told him to divide it into sixty pieces. The butcher asked for his
pay ; and was given the head of the cow. Sixty fellaheen were then
called together ; and each of them was compelled to purchase, for a
riydl, a piece of the cow. The owner of the cow went, weeping and
complaining, to the Nazir' s superior, the late Mohammad Bey, Def-
tardar. " my master," said he, " I am oppressed and in misery :
I had no property but one cow, a milch cow : I and my family lived
upon her milk ; and she ploughed for me, and threshed my corn ;
and my whole subsistence was derived from her : the Nazir has taken
her, and killed her, and cut her up into sixty pieces, and sold the
pieces to my neighbours j to each a piece, for one riyal ; so that he
obtained but sixty riyals for the whole, while the value of the cow
was a hundred and twenty riyals, or more. I am oppressed and in
misery, and a stranger in the place, for I came from another village ;
but the Nazir had no pity on me. I and my family are become
beggars, and have nothing left. Have mercy upon me, and give me
justice : I implore it by thy hareem." The Deftardar, having caused
the N&zir to be brought before him, asked him, " Where is the cow
of this felldh?" "I have sold it," said the Nazir. "For how
much ?" '' For sixty riyals." " Why did you kill it and sell it ?"
" He owed sixty riy&ls for land : so I took his cow, and killed it, and
sold it for the amount." " Where is the butcher that killed it ?"
" In Manoof." The butcher was sent for, and brought. The
Deftardar said to him, "Why did you kill this man's cow ?" " The
Ndzir desired me," he answered, " and I could not oppose him : if I
ha3 attempted to do so, he would have beaten me, and destroyed my
house : I killed it ; and the Nazir gave me the head as my reward."
" Man," said the Deftarddr, " do you know the persons who bought
the meat ?'* The butcher replied that he did. The Deftarddr then
desired his secretary to write the names of the sixty men, and an
order to the Sheykh of their village to bring them to Manoof, where
this complaint was made. The Ndzir and butcher were placed in
128 CHAPTER IV.
confinement till the next morning ; when the Sheykh of the village
came, with the sixty felldheen. The two prisoners were then brought
again before the Deftarddr, who said to the Sheyklj and the sixty
peasants, " Was the value of this man's cow sixty riyals ?" " O our
master/' they answered, " her value was greater." The Deftard&r
sent for the K&dee of Manoof, and said to him, " Ka^ee, here is a
man oppressed by this N&zir, who has taken his cow, and killed it ;
and sold its flesh for sixty riy&ls. What is thy judgment ?" The
Kddee replied, " He is a cruel tyrant, who oppresses every one under
his authority. Is not a cow worth a hundred and twenty riydls, or
more? and he has sold this one for sixty riyals: this is tyranny
towards the owner." The Deftarddr then said to some of his soldiers,
" Take the N&zir, and strip him, and bind him." This done, he said
to the butcher, " Butcher, dost thou not fear God ? Thou hast killed
the cow unjustly." The butcher again urged that he was obliged to
obey the Nfeir. "Then," said the Deftard&r, "if I order thee to
do a thing wilt thou do it ?" " I will do it," answered the butcher.
" Slaughter the N&zir," said the Deftard&r. Immediately, several of
the soldiers present seized the Nzir, and threw him down ; and the
butcher cut his throat, in the regular orthodox manner of killing
animals for food. " Now, cut him up," said the Deftardar, " into
sixty pieces." This was done : the people concerned in the affair,
and many others, looking on ; but none daring to speak. The sixty
peasants who had bought the meat of the cow were then called
forward, one after another, and each was made to take a piece of the
flesh of the Nazir, and to pay for it two riy&ls ; so that a hundred
and twenty riy&ls were obtained from them. They were then dis-
missed; but the butcher remained. The Kddee was asked what
should be the reward of the butcher ; and answered that he should be
paid as he had been paid by the Nazir. The Deftardar therefore
ordered that the head of the Nazir should be given to him ; and the
butcher went away with his worse than valueless burden, thanking
God that he had not been more unfortunate, and scarcely believing
himself to have so easily escaped until he arrived at his village.
The money paid for the flesh of the N&zir was given to the owner of
the cow.
Most of the governors of provinces and districts carry their
oppression far beyond the limits to which they are authorized to
proceed by the B&sha ; and even the Sheykh of a village, in executing
the commands of his superiors, abuses his lawful power : bribes, and
GOVERNMENT. 129
the ties of relationship and marriage, influence him and them, and by
lessening the oppression of some, who are more able to bear it, greatly
increase that of others. But the office of a Sheykh of a village- is far
from being a sinecure : at the period when the taxes are demanded of
him, he frequently receives a more severe bastinading than any of his
inferiors ; for when the population of a village does not yield the sum
required, their Sheykh is often beaten for their default : and not
always does he produce his own proportion until he has been well
thrashed. All the fellaheen are proud of the stripes they receive for
withholding their contributions ; and are often heard to boast of the
number of blows which were inflicted upon them before they would
give up their money. Ammianus Marcellinus gives precisely the
same character to the Egyptians of his time. 1
The revenue of the Basha of Egypt is generally said to amount to
about three millions of pounds sterling. 8 Nearly half arises from the
direct taxes on land, and from indirect exactions from the fell&heen :
the remainder, principally from the custom-taxes, the tax on palm-
trees, a kind of income-tax, and the sale of various productions of the
land ; by which sale, the government, in most instances, obtains a
profit of more than fifty per cent.
The present B&sha has increased his revenue to this amount by
most oppressive measures. He has dispossessed of their lands almost
all the private proprietors throughout Egypt, allotting to each, as a
partial compensation, a pension for life, proportioned to the extent
and quality of the land which belonged to him. The farmer has,
therefore, nothing to leave to his children but his hut, and perhaps a
few cattle and some small savings.
The direct taxes on land are proportioned to the natural ad*
vantages of the soil. Their average amount is about 8s. per fedddn,
which is nearly equal to an English acre. 3 But the cultivator can
never calculate exactly the full amount of what the government will
require of him: he suffers from indirect exactions of quantities
(differing in dlfi^Mlt years, but always levied per feddan,) of butter,
honey, wax, wool, baskets of palm-leaves, ropes of the fibres of the
palm-tree, and other commodities : he is also obliged to pay the hire
of the camels which convey his grain to the government " shooneh "
i Lib xxii The more easily the peasant pays, * The feddan has lately been reduced : it was
the more is he made to pay. equal to about an English acre and one-tenth a
a Some estimate it at five millions ; others, at few years apro ; and somewhat more at an earlier
little more than two millions. period.
130 CHAPTER IV.
(or granary), and to defray various other expenses. A portion of the
produce of his land is taken by the government, 1 and sometimes the
whole .produce, at a fixed and fair price, which, however, in many
parts of Egypt, is retained to make up for the debts of the insolvent
peasants. 8 The felldh, to supply the bare necessaries of life, is often
obliged to steal, and convey secretly to his hut, as much as he can of
the produce of his land. He may either himself supply the seed for
his land, or obtain it as a loan from the government : but in the
latter case he seldom obtains a sufficient quantity; a considerable
portion being generally stolen by the persons through whose hands it
passes before he receives it. To relate all the oppressions which the
peasantry of Egypt endure from the dishonesty of the Ma-moors and
inferior officers would require too much space in the present work. It
would be scarcely possible for them to suffer more, and live. It may
be hardly necessary, therefore, to add, that few of them engage, with
assiduity, in the labours of agriculture, unless compelled to do so by
their superiors.
The B&sha has not only taken possession of the lands of the
private proprietors, but he has also thrown into his treasury a con-
siderable proportion of the incomes of religious and charitable in-
stitutions, deeming their accumulated wealth superfluous. He first
imposed a tax (of nearly half the amount of the regular land-tax)
upon all land which had become a " wakf " (or legacy unalienable by
law) to any mosque, fountain, public school, &c. j and afterwards
took absolute possession of such lands, granting certain annuities in
lieu of them, for keeping in repair the respective buildings, and for
the maintenance of those persons attached to them, as N&zirs (or
wardens), religious ministers, inferior servants, students, and other
pensioners. He has thus rendered himself extremely odious to most
persons of the religious and learned professions, and especially to the
Nazirs of the mosques, who too generally enriched themselves from
the funds intrusted to their care, which were, in most cases, super-
abundant. The household property of the mosques and other public
institutions (the wakfs of numerous individuals of various ranks) the
B&sha has hitherto left inviolate.
The tax upon the palm-trees has been calculated to amount to
1 Of some productions, as cotton, flai, &c., the are often imposed upon the inhabitants of another
government alway* takes the whole. whahave paid ail that is justly due from them,
* Even the debts of the peasantry of one village
GOVERNMENT. 131
about a hundred thousand pounds sterling. The trees are rated
according to their qualities ; generally at a piaster and a half each.
The income-tax, which is called " firdeh," is generally a twelfth
or more of a man's annual income or salary, when that can be ascer-
tained. The maximum, however, is fixed at five hundred piasters.
In the large towns it is levied upon individuals ; in the villages, upon
houses. The income-tax of all the inhabitants of the metropolis
amounts to eight thousand purses, or about forty thousand pounds
sterling.
The inhabitants of the metropolis and of other large towns pay a
heavy tax on grain, &c. The tax on each kind of grain is eighteen
piasters per ardebb (or about five bushels) ; which sum is equal to the
price of wheat in the country after a good harvest.
( 132 )
CHAPTER V.
DOMESTIC LIFE.
HAVING sufficiently considered the foundations of . the "moral and
social state of the Muslims of Egypt, we may now take a view of their
domestic life and ordinary habits ; and, first, let us confine our atten-
tion to the higher and middle orders.
A master of a family, or any person who has arrived at manhood,
and is not in a menial situation, or of very low condition, is commonly
honoured with the appellation of "the sheykh," prefixed to his name.
The word a sheykh" literally signifies "an elder/' or "an aged
person ;" but it is often used as synonymous with our appellation of
" Mister;" though more particularly applied to a learned man, or a
reputed saint. A " shereef/' or descendant of the Prophet, is called
"the seyd," or "the seyyid" (master, or lord), whatever be his
station. Many shereefs are employed in the lowest offices : there are
servants, dustmen, and beggars, of the honoured race of Mohammad ;
but all of them are entitled to the distinctive appellation above men-
tioned, and privileged to wear the green turban : l many of them,
however, not only among those of humble station, but also among the
wealthy, and particularly the learned, assume neither of these prero-
gatives j preferring the title of " sheykh," and the white turban. A
man who has performed the pilgrimage is generally called "the
b&gg >'* an( i a woman who has alike ^distinguished herself, " the
hdggeh :" yet there are many pilgrims who, like those shereefs just
before alluded to, prefer the title of " sheykh." The general appella-
tion of a lady is " the sitt," which signifies " the mistress," or " the
lady/' *
i Men and women of this race often contract ants of Cairo and the greater part of Egypt ; but
marriages with persons who are not members of in most other countries where Arabic is spoken,
the same; and as the title of shereef is inherited *'h$jj." The Turks and Persians use, instead of
from either of the parents, the number of persons it, the synonymous Arabic word "h^afce." The
who enjoy this distinction has become very eon- former of these two terms also means "pilgrims/'
siderable. a* a collective noun.
* This word is thus pronounced by the inhabit-
DOMESTIC LIFE> 133
Before I describe the ordinary habits of the master of a family, I
must mention the various classes of persons of whom the family may
consist. The hareem, or the females of the house, have distinct apart-
ments allotted to them ; and into these apartments (which, as well as
t&e persons to whom they are appropriated, are called " the hareem,")
no males are allowed to enter, except the master of the family, and
certain other near relations, and^ children. The hareem may consist,
first, of a wife, or wives (to the number of four) ; secondly, of female
slaves, some of whom, namely, white and (as they are commonly
called) Abyssinian (but more properly Galla) slaves, are generally
concubines, and others (the black slaves) kept merely for servile
offices, *as cooking, waiting upon the ladies, &c. ; thirdly, of female
free servants, who are, in no case, concubines, or not legitimately so.
The male dependants may consist of white and of black slaves, and
free servants ; but are mostly of the last-mentioned class. Very few
of the Egyptians avail themselves of the licence, which their religion
allows them, of having four wives ; and still smaller is the number of
those who have two or more wives, and concubines besides. Even
most of those men who have but one wife are content, for the sake of
domestic peace, if for no other reason, to remain without a concubine-
slave : but some prefer the possession of an Abyssinian slave to the
more expensive maintenance of a wife ; and keep a black slave-girl, or
an Egyptian female servant, to wait upon her, to clean and keep in
order the apartments of the hareem, and to cook. It is seldom that
two or more wives are kept in the same house: if they are, they
generally have distinct apartments. Of male servants, the master of
a family keeps, if he can afford to do so, one or more to wait upon
him and his male guests ; another, who is called a " sakka," or
water-carrier, but who is particularly a servant of the hareem, and
attends the ladies only when they go out ; l a " boww&b," or door-
keeper, who constantly sits at the door of the house ; and a " s&'is,"
or groom, for the horse, mule, or ass. Few of the Egyptians have
"memlooks," or male white slaves; most of these being in the
possession of rich 'Osmdnlees (or Turks); and scarcely any but
Turks of high rank keep eunuchs : but a wealthy Egyptian merchant
is proud of having a black slave to ride or walk behind him, and to
carry his pipe.
The Egyptian is a very early riser, as he retires to sleep at an early
Unless there be a eunuch. The saVfca is generally the chief of the servants.
134 CHAPTER V.
hour ; it is his duty to be up and dressed before daybreak, when he
should say the morning-prayers. In general, while the master of a
family is performing the religious ablution, and saying his prayers,
his wife or slave is preparing for him a cup of coffee, and filling his
pipe, to present to him as soon as he has acquitted himself of his
religious duties.
Many of the Egyptians take nothing before noon but the cup of
coffee and the pipe : others take a light meal at an early hour. The
meal of breakfast (" el-fatoor ") generally consists of bread, with
eggs, butter, cheese, clouted cream, or curdled milk, &c. ; or of a
" fateereh," which is a kind of pastry, saturated with butter, made
very thin, and folded over and over like a napkin : it is eaten alone,
or with a little honey poured over it, or sugar. A very common dish
for breakfast is "fool mudenimes," or beans, similar to our horse-
beans, slowly boiled, during a whole night, in an earthen vessel,
buried, all but the neck, in the hot ashes of an oven or a bath, and
having the mouth closely stopped : they are eaten with linseed-oil, or
butter, and generally with a little lime-juice : thus prepared, they are
sold in the morning in the sooks (or markets) of Cairo and other
towns. A meal is often made (by those who cannot afford luxuries)
of bread and a mixture called " dukkah," which is commonly com-
posed of salt and pepper, with " zaatar " (or wild marjoram) or mint
or cumin-seed, and with one, or more, or all, of the following
ingredients: namely, coriander-seed, cinnamon, sesame, and "hom-
mus " (or chick-peas) : each mouthful of bread is dipped in this
mixture. The bread is always made in the form of a round flat cake,
generally about a span in width, and a finger's breadth, or less, in
thickness.
The pipe and the cup of coffee are enjoyed by almost all persons
who can afford such luxuries, very early in the morning, and oftentimes
during the day. There are many men who are scarcely ever seen
without a pipe either in their hand or carried behind them by a
servant. The smoker keeps his tobacco for daily use in a purse or
bag made of shawl-stuff, or silk, or velvet, which is often accompanied
with a small pouch containing a flint and steel, and some agaric
tinder, and is usually crammed into his bosom.
The pipe (which is called by many names, as "shibuk," 1 a 'ood,"
&c.,) is generally between four and five feet long : some pipes are
From the Turkish "chibooy
DOMESTIC LIFE.
135
shorter, and some ai'e of greater length. The most common kind
used in Egypt is made of a kind of wood called " garmashak." 1 The
greater part of the stick (from the mouthpiece to about three-
quarters of its length) is covered with silk, which is confined at each
extremity by gold thread., often intertwined with coloured silks, or by
1 Pronounced " garmush'ak." I believe it is maple,
136 CHAPTER V.
a tube of gilt silver j and at the lower extremity of the covering is a
tassel of silk. The covering was originally designed to be moistened
with water, in order to cool the pipe, and, consequently, the smoke,
by evaporation : but this is only done when the pipe is old, or not
handsome. Cherry-stick pipes, which are never covered, are also
used by many persons, particularly in the winter. In summer, the
smoke is not so cool from the cherry-stick pipe as from the kind
before mentioned. The bowl l is of baked earth, coloured red or
brown. 8 The mouthpiece 8 is composed of two or more pieces of
opaque, light-coloured amber, interjoined by ornaments of enamelled
gold, agate, jasper, carnelion, or some other precious substance. It is
the most costly part of the pipe : some mouthpieces are adorned
with diamonds : the price of one of the kind most generally used by
persons of the middle orders is from about one to three pounds sterling.
A wooden tube passes through it. This is often changed, as it soon
becomes foul from the oil of the tobacco. The pipe also requires to
be cleaned very often, which is done with tow, by means of a long
wire. Many poor men in Cairo gain their livelihood by going about
to clean pipes.
The tobacco smoked by persons of the higher orders, and some
others, in Egypt, is of a very mild and delicious flavour. It is mostly
from the neighbourhood of El-Ladikeeyeh, in Syria. The best kind
is the " mountain tobacco," 4 grown on the hills about that town. A
stronger kind, which takes its name from the town of Soor, 5 some-
times mixed with the former, is used by most persons of the middle
orders. In smoking, the people of Egypt and of other countries of
the East draw in their breath freely; so that much of the smoke
descends into the lungs ; and the terms which they use to express
" smoking tobacco " signify " drinking smoke/* or " drinking
tobacco:" for the same word signifies both "smoke" and "tobacco,"
Few of them spit while smoking : I have very seldom seen any
do so.
Some of the Egyptians use the Persian pipe, in which the smoke
passes through water. The pipe of this kind most commonly used by
persons of the higher classes is called <f nargeeleh/' because the
vessel that contains the water is a cocoa-nut, of which " n&rgeeleh "
i " lla^ar." of to receive the ashes of the tobacco.
* To preserve the matting or carpet from in- 3 "Fum," or "tarkeebeh."
jury, a small brass tray is often placed beneath * " Dukhkhan gcbclee."
the bowl j and a small tray of wood is made use * " Dukhkhan Sooree."
DOMESTIC LIFE.
137
is an Arabic name. Another kind, which has a glass vase, is called
" sheesheh." 1 Each has a very long, flexible tube. A particular
kind of tobacco, called " tumbak," from Persia, is used in the water-
pipe: it is first washed several times, and put into the pipe-bowl
while damp ; and two or three pieces of live charcoal are placed on
the top. Its flavour is mild, and very agreeable; but the strong
inhalation necessary in this mode of smoking is injurious to persons
of delicate lungs. 8 In using the Persian pipe, the person as freely
draws the smoke into his lungs as he would inhale pure air. The
great prevalence of liver-complaints in Arabia is attributed to the
general use of the nargeeleh ; and many persons in Egypt suffer
severely from the same cause. A kind of pipe commonly called
" gozeh," which is similar to the na*rgeeleh, except that it has a short
cane tube, instead of the snake (or flexible one), and no stand, is used
by men of the lowest class, for smoking both the tumbdk and the
intoxicating " hasheesh," or hemp.
The coffee (" kahweh " 3 ) is made very strong, and without sugar
or milk. The coffee-cup (which is called "fingan") is small;
Coffee-service.
generally holding not quite an ounce and a half of liquid. It is of
porcelain, or Dutch-ware, and, being without a handle, is placed
within another cup (called "zarf"), of silver or brass, according to
the circumstances of the owner, and, both in shape and size, nearly
i A Persian word, signifying "glass."
* It is however, often recommended in the case
of a cough. One of my friends, the most cele-
brated of the poets of Cairo, who is much troubled
by asthma, uses the nargeeleh almost incessantly
from morning till night.
8 This is the name of the leverage : the terries
(whether whole or pounded) are called " bunn,"
T
138 CHAPTER V.
resembling our egg-cup. 1 In preparing the coffee, the water is first
made to boil : the coffee (freshly roasted, and pounded,) is then put
in, and stirred ; after which the pot is again placed on the fire, once
or twice, until the coffee begins to simmer; when it is taken off, and
its contents are poured out into the cups while the surface is yet
creamy. The Egyptians are excessively fond of pure and strong
coffee, thus prepared ; and very seldom add sugar to it (though some
do so when they are unwell), and never milk or cream ; but a little
cardamom-seed 8 is often added to it. It is a common custom, also,
to fumigate the cup with the smoke of mastic; and the wealthy
sometimes impregnate the coffee with the delicious fragrance of
ambergris. 8 The most general mode of doing this is, to put about a
carat-weight of ambergris in a coffee-pot, and melt it over a fire ;
then make the coffee in another pot, in the manner before described,
and, when it has settled a little, pour it into the pot which contains
the ambergris. Some persons make use of the ambergris, for the
same purpose, in a different way ; sticking a piece of it, of the weight
of about two carats, in the bottom of the cup, and then pouring in
the coffee : a piece of the weight above mentioned will serve for two
or three weeks. This mode is often adopted by persons who like
always to have the coffee which they themselves drink flavoured with
this perfume, and do not give all their visiters the same luxury. The
coffee-pot is sometimes brought in a vessel of silver or brass (called
" 'dz'kee " 4 ) containing burning charcoal. This vessel is suspended by
three chains. In presenting the coffee, the servant holds the foot of
the zarf with his thumb and first finger. In receiving the fingan and
zarf, he makes use of both hands, placing the left beneath and the
right above at the same instant.
In cold weather, a brasier, or chafing-dish (called " mankal," and
vulgarly " mankad "), of tinned copper, full of burning charcoal, is
placed on the floor; and sometimes perfume is burnt in it. The
1 In a Ml service there are ten fingans and persons have them of gold, and sometimes set
?arfs of uniform kinds, and often another fingan with diamonds, rabies, and other gems. Many
and ?arf of a superior kind for the master of the Muslims, however, religiously disallow all utensils
house, or for a distinguished guest. In the of gold and of silver,
cut next preceding, the coffee-pot ("bekreg," or * "^abb-han."
"bakrag,") and the ?arfs and tray are of silver, s '"Ambar."
and are represented on a scale of one-eighth of * Baron Hammer-Purgstall considers this word
the real size. Below this set are a similar ?arf a corruption, and writes " chasseki " in its stead:
and fingan, on a scale of one-fourth, and a brass " 'az'kee " (for " 'azikee ") is, however, the term
jarf, with the fingan placed in it. Some ?arfs are used by the Egyptians,
of plain or gilt silver filigree ; and a few opulent
DOMESTIC LIFE.
139
Egyptians take great delight in perfumes ; l and often fumigate their
apartments. The substance most commonly used for this purpose is
'Az'fcee and Mankals. 2
frankincense of an inferior quality, called " bakhoor el-barr." Benzoin 3
and aloes-wood 4 are also used for the same purpose.
If he can conveniently afford to keep a horse, mule,, or ass, or to
hire an ass, the Egyptian is seldom seen walking far beyond the
threshold of his own house ; but very few of the people of Cairo, or
of the other towns, venture to expose themselves to the suspicion of
possessing superfluous wealth, and, consequently, to greater exactions
of the government than they would otherwise suffer, by keeping
horses. 5 The modern saddle of the horse is generally padded, and
covered with cloth or velvet, embroidered, or otherwise ornamented ;
and the head-stall and breast-leather are adorned with silk-tassels,
and coins, or other ornaments, of silver. Wealthy merchants, and
the great 'Ulama, usually ride mules. The saddle of the mule is,
generally, nearly the same as that of the ass, of which a sketch is
inserted: when the rider is one of the 'Ulama, it is covered with a
" seggadeh " (or prayer-carpet) : so, too, sometimes, is the ladies'
saddle; from which, however, the former differs considerably, as will
be shewn hereafter. Asses are most generally used for riding
through the narrow and crowded streets of Cairo; and there are
1 They sometimes perfume the beard and mus-
taches with civet.
a One of the latter (that to the* right) is an
earthen vessel. Each of the above utensils is
represented on a scale of about one-eighth of the
real size.
* <"0od."
5 Whether walking or riding, a person of the
higher classes is usually attended by a servant
bearing his pipe.
140
CHAPTER V.
many for hire : their usual pace is an easy amble. Egypt has long
been famed for its excellent asses, which are, in general, larger than
those of our country, and very superior to the latter in every respect.
The usual price of one of a good breed and well trained is about three
or four pounds sterling ; but some are of higher price than an ordi-
nary horse. The ass is furnished with a stuffed saddle ; the fore part of
which is covered with red leather, and the seat, most commonly, with
An Ass equipped in the usual manner for riding. 1
a kind of soft woollen lace, similar to our coach-lace, of red, yellow,
and other colours. The stirrup-leathers are, in every case, very short.
The horseman is preceded by a groom, or by two grooms, to clear the
way; the groom, or each groom, generally carrying a long staff,
called " nebboot," which he holds perpendicularly, grasping it near
the lower extremity : and, for the same purpose, a servant generally
runs beside or behind the ass, or sometimes before ; calling out to the
passengers to move out of the way to the right or left, or to take care
of their backs, faces, sides, feet, or heels. 2 The rider, however, must
1 Nearly the whole of its coat is closely shorn.
a Such ejaculations as "6'a!" (take care!), "ye-
meenak i shimalak !" (to thy right ! to thy left !),
"dahrakl" (thy back!), "wishshak!" (thy face!),
"gembak!" (thy side!), "riglak!" (thy foot!),
" kaabak !" (thy heel !), and, to a Turk, " sdkin !"
(take care!), are the most common cries. The
following appellations are also often added: "ya
efendee!" (to a Turk), "yasheykh!" (to an old
or a middle-aged Muslim native), " yd sabee !" (to
a young man), "ydweled!" or "y&ibnee!" (to a
hoy), "ya shereef!" (to a green-turbaned de-
scendant of the Prophet), "ya m'allim !" (to a
native Christian, or a Jew), " ya khawageh !" (to
a Frank), " ya sitt !" (to a lady, or a female of the
middle orders), and " ya bint 1" that is, " daughter,'
DOMESTIC LIFE. 141
be vigilant, and not trust merely to his servant, or he may be thrown
down by the wide load of a camel ; which accident, indeed, is some-
times unavoidable in the more narrow and crowded streets. His pipe
is generally carried by the servant ; and filled and lighted when he
dismounts at a house or shop.
If he have no regular business to employ him, the Egyptian
spends the greater part of the day in riding, paying visits, or making
purchases ; or in smoking and sipping coffee and chatting with a
friend at home; or he passes an hour or more in the morning
enjoying the luxuries of a public bath. At noon, he has again to say
prayers, if he fulfil the duties imposed on him by his religion : but, as
I have remarked on a former occasion, there are comparatively few
persons among the Egyptians who do not sometimes neglect these
duties ; and there are niany who scarcely ever pray. Directly after
midday (if he has not taken a late breakfast), he eats a light dinner;
then takes a pipe and a cup of coffee, and, in hot weather, usually
indulges himself with a nap. Often he retires to recline in the
hareem ; where a wife or female slave watches over his repose, or rubs
the soles of his feet with her hands. On such occasions, and at other
times when he wishes to enjoy privacy, every person who comes to
pay him a visit is told, by the servant, that he is in the hareem; and
no friend expects him to be called thence, unless on very urgent
business. From the time of the afternoon-prayers, until sunset (the
next time of prayer), he generally enjoys, again, his pipe and a cup
of coffee in the society of some one or more of his friends at home or
abroad. Shortly after sunset he sups.
I must now describe the meals of dinner ("el-ghada") and supper
(" el-'asha"), and the manner and etiquette of eating. The same re-
marks will apply to both these repasts ; except that supper is always
the principal meal. It is the general custom to cook in the afternoon ;
and what remains of the supper is eaten the next day for dinner, if
there are no guests in the house. The master of a family generally
dines and sups with his wife or wives and children ; but there are
many men, particularly of the higher classes, who are too proud to do
this, or too much engaged in society to be able to do so, unless on
some few occasions ; and there are men even of the lowest class who
or "girl" (to a poor female). A woman of the young woman, is often called "'arooseh," or
lower class, however old she be, the servant must " bride ;" and " haggeh," or "female pilgrim," is
call " girl," or " daughter," or probably she will an appellation often given to women in the
not move an inch out of the way. A little girl, or streets.
142
CHAPTER V.
scarcely ever eat with their wives or children. When a person is
paying a visit to a friend, and the hour of dinner or supper arrives, it
is incumbent on the master of the house to order the meal to be
brought ; and the same is generally considered necessary if the visiter
be a stranger.
Every person, before he sits down to the table, or rather to the
tray, washes his hands, 1 and sometimes his mouth also, with soap and
water; or, at least, has some water poured upon his right hand. A
servant brings to him a basin and ewer (called "tisht" and
"ibreek"), of tinned copper, or of brass. 2 The former x>f these has a
? isht and Ibreek."
cover pierced with holes, with a raised receptacle for the soap in the
middle ; and the water, being poured upon the hands, passes through
this cover into the space below ; so that when the basin is brought to
a second person, the water with which the former one has washed is
not seen. A napkin (" foo^ah ") is given to each person.
A round tray (called " seeneeyeh," and " s&neeyeh,") of tinned
copper, or sometimes of brass, generally between two and three feet in
diameter, serves as a table ; being placed upon a stool (" kursee ")
about fifteen inches high, made of wood, and often covered with
mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, bone, &c. These two pieces of furni-
ture compose the "sufrah." Round cakes of bread, such as have
been before described, sometimes cut in halves across the middle, are
placed round the tray, with several limes, cut in two, to be squeezed
i See Mark, vii. 3.
9 In the houses of some of the opulent, these
utensils are of silver. I have also seen some of
gilt copper.
8 The width of the former is fourteen inches j
and the height of the latter, the same,
DOMESTIC LIFE.
143
T A
Washing before or after a Meal.
Kursee and Seenecyeh.
over
uvci any of the dishes that may require the acid; and a spoon of
box-wood, or of ebony, or tortoise-shell, is put for each person, The
bread often serves as a plate. Several dishes of tinned copper, or
of china, containing different kinds of viands, vegetables, &c., are-
then placed upon the tray, according to the common fashion of the
country; or only one dish is put on at a time, after the Turkish
mode.
144 CHAPTER V.
The persons who are to partake of the repast sit upon the floor
around the tray ; each with his napkin upon his knees : or, if the
tray be placed near the edge of a low deewan, which is often done,
some of the persons may sit on the deewan, and the others on the
floor : but if the party be numerous, the tray is placed in the middle
of the room, and they sit round it with one knee on the ground, and
the other (the right) raised; this being the most approved posture at
meals in every case : and in this manner, as many as twelve persons
may sit round a tray three feet wide. Each person bares his right
arm to the elbow, or tucks up the hanging end of his sleeve. Before
he begins to eat, he says, Bi-smi-llah " (In the name of God).
A Party at Dinner or Supper. 2
This is generally said in a low, but audible voice ; and by the master
of the house first. It is considered both as a grace and as an invita-
tion to any person to partake of the meal ; and when any one is
addressed with " Bi-smi-llah/' or "Taft^dal" (which latter signifies,
in this case, " Do me the favour to plertake of the repast "), he must
i Or " Bi-smi-llahi-r-rahm&ni-r-raheem " (In the * One of the servants is holding a water-bottle
name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciral). the other, a fly-whisk made of palm-leaves.
DOMESTIC LIFE. 145
reply, if he do not accept the invitation, " Heneean " (or " May it
be productive of enjoyment"), or use some similar expression: else
it will be feared that an evil eye has been cast upon the food ; and
they say that, " in the food that is coveted " (or upon which an
envious eye has fallen) (< there is no blessing." But the manner in
which the Egyptian often presses a stranger to eat with him shews
that ^ feelings of hospitality most forcibly dictate the " Bi-smi-llah."
The master of the house first begins to eat; the guests or others
immediately follow his example. Neither knives nor forks are used :
the thumb and two fingers of the right hand serve instead of those
instruments ; but the spoons are used for soup or rice or other things
that cannot be easily taken without ; and both hands may be used in
particular cases, as will be presently explained. When there are
several dishes upon the tray, each person takes of any that he likes,
or of every one in succession : when only one dish is placed upon the
tray at a time, each takes from it a few mouthfuls, and it is quickly
removed, to give place to another. 1 To pick out a delicate morsel,
and hand it to a friend, is esteemed polite. The manner of eating
with the fingers, as practised in Egypt and other Eastern countries,
is more delicate than may be imagined by Europeans who have not
witnessed it, nor heard it correctly described. Each person breaks off
a small piece of bread, dips it' in the dish, and then conveys it to his
mouth, together with a small portion of the meat o/r other contents of
the dish. 2 The piece of bread is generally doubled together, so as to
enclose the morsel of meat, &c. ; and only the thumb and first and
second fingers are commonly used. When a person takes a piece
of meat too large for a single mouthful, he usually places it upon his
bread.
The food is dressed in such a manner that it may be easily eaten
in the mode above described. It generally consists, for the most
part, of " yakhnee," or stewed meat, with chopped onions, or with a
quantity of " bamiyehs," 3 or other vegetables; "k&wurmeh," or a
richer stew, with onions ; (C warak mahshee," or vine-leaves, or bits of
lettuce-leaf or cabbage-leaf, with a mixture of rice and minced-meat
i Our Saviour and his disciples thus ate from the thickness of a small finger : it is full of seeds
one dish. See Matt. xxvi. 23. * and nutritive mucilage, and has a very pleasant
* Or he merely sops his morsel of bread in the flavour. A little lime-juice is usually dropped on
dish. See Ruth, ii. 14 ; and John, xiii. 26. the plate of bamiyehs when they are cooked
8 The bamiy eh is the esculent "hibiscus:" the alone, and also when they have a little fried
part which is eaten is a polygonal pod, generally minced-meat sprinkled upon them, as is often
between one and three inches in length, and of done.
146 CHAPTER V.
(delicately seasoned with salt, pepper, and onions, and often with
garlic, parsley, &c.,) wrapped up in them, and boiled; cucumbers
("khiy&r "), or black, white, or red " bddingans," 1 or a kind of gourd
(called " kar$ kooseh ") of the size and shape of a small cucumber,
which are all " mahshee " (or stuffed) with the same composition as
the leaves above mentioned; and " kebab/' or small morsels of
mutton or lamb, roasted on skewers. Many dishes consist wholly, or
for the most part, of vegetables ; such as cabbage, purslain, spinach,
Mmiyehs, beans, lupins, chick-peas, gourd cut into small pieces,
colocasia, lentils, &c. Fish, dressed with oil, is also a common dish.
Most of the meats are cooked with clarified butter, on account of the
deficiency of fat ; and are made very rich : the butter, in the hot
season, is perfectly liquid. When a fowl is placed whole on the
tray, both hands are generally required to separate the joints; or two
persons, each using the right hand alone, perform this operation
together ; but some will do it very cleverly without assistance, and
with a single hand. Many of the Arabs will not allow the left hand
to touch food in any case, 2 except when the right is maimed. A
boned fowl, stuffed with raisins, pistachio-nuts, crumbled bread,
and parsley, is not an uncommon dish ; and even a whole lamb,
stuffed with pistachio-nuts, &c., is sometimes served up; but the
meat is easily separated with one hand. Sweets are often mixed with
stewed meat, &c. ; as, for instance, " 'annab " (or jujubes), peaches,
apricots, &c., and sugaT, with yakhnee. Various kinds of sweets are
also, served up, and often in no particular order with respect to other
meats. A favourite sweet dish is "kunafeh," which is made of
wheat-flour, and resembles vermicelli, but is finer ; it is fried with a
little clarified butter, and sweetened with sugar or honey. A dish of
water-melon ("batteekh" a ), if in season, generally forms part of the
meal. This is cut up about a quarter of an hour before, and left to
cool in the external air, or in a current of air, by the evaporation of
the juice on the surfaces of the slices ; but it is always watched during
this time, lest a serpent should come to it, and poison it by its breath
or bite ; for this reptile is said to be extremely fond of the water-
melon, and to smell it at a great distance. Water-melons are very
abundant in Egypt, and mostly very delicious and wholesome. A
dish of boiled rice (called "ruzz mufelfel," the "pilav" of the
Turks), mixed with a little butter, and seasoned with salt and pepper,
1 The black and white b&dingin are the fruits * Because used for unclean purposes,
of two kinds of egg-plant: the red is the tomata. 3 So commonly pronounced, for
DOMESTIC LIFE.
147
is generally that from which the last morsels are taken; but, in the
houses of the wealthy, this is often followed by a bowl of "khushaf," 1
a sweet drink, commonly consisting of water with raisins boiled in it,
and then sugar : when cool, a little rose-water is dropped into it. 2
The water-melon frequently supplies the place of this. 3
The Egyptians eat very moderately, though quickly. Each
person, as soon as he has finished, says, " El-hamdu li-llah "
(Praise be to God), 4 and gets up, without waiting till the others have
done : 5 he then washes his hands and mouth with soap and water ;
the basin and ewer being held by a servant, as before.
The only beverage at meals is water of the Nile, or, sometimes, at
the tables of the rich, sherbet, which will presently be described.
The Arabs drink little or no water during a meal, but generally take
Water-bottles (Dtfraks), with covers of different kinds. The bottles in the foremost row are one-sixth of
the real size.
1 So called from the Persian "khdsh ab," or
"sweet water."
2 It is drunk with ladles of tortoise-shell or
cocoa-nut.
3 The principal and best fruits of Egypt are
dates, grapes, oranges and citrons of various
kinds, common figs, sycamore-figs, prickly-pears,
pomegranates, bananas, and a great variety of
melons. Peaches and apricots are plentiful, but
not of good flavour. Pears are rare; mostly
brought from Mount Sinai or Syria. From this
enumeration it appears that there are not many
good fruits in Egypt.
4 Or "El-hamdu li-llabl rabbi - 1 - 'alameen "
(Praise be to God, the Lord of the beings of the
whole world).
5 It is deemed highly improper to rise during a
meal, even from respect to a superior who may
approach. It has been mentioned before, that the
Prophet forbade his followers to rise while eating*
or when about to eat, even if the time of prayer
arrived.
148
CHAPTER V.
a large draught immediately after. The water of the Nile is remark-
ably good ; but that of all the wells in Cairo and in other parts of
Egypt is slightly brackish. In general, water is drunk either from
an earthen bottle or from a brass cup. 1 The water-bottles are of two
kinds ; one called " dorak," and the other, " kulleh :" the former has
Water-bottles (Kullehs).
a narrow, and the latter a wide, mouth. They are made of a greyish,
porous earth, which cools the water deliciously, by evaporation ; and
they are, therefore, generally placed in a current of air. The interior
is often blackened with the smoke of some resinous wood, and then
perfumed with the smoke of " kafal " 2 -wood and mastic; the latter
used last. A small earthen vessel (called " mibkharah " 8 ) is em-
ployed in performing these operations, to contain the burning char-
coal, which is required to ignite the wood, and the mastic ; and the
water-bottle is held inverted over it. A strip of rag is tied round the
Earthen Mibkharah, and China Doral?, one-sixth of the real size.
1 The ancient Egyptians used drinking-cups of * "Amyris kafal " of Forskal. An Arabian tree,
brass. (Herodotus, lib. ii. cap. 37.) 3 Pronounced " mibkhar'ah."
DOMESTIC LIFE. 149
neck of the dorak, at the distance of about an inch from the mouth,
to prevent the smoke-black from extending too far upon the exterior
of the bottle. Many persons also put a little orange-flower water l
into the bottles. This gives a very agreeable flavour to their contents.
The bottles have stoppers of silver, brass, tin, or wood ; or covers of
woven palm-leaves; and are generally placed in a tray of tinned
copper, which receives the water that exudes from them. In cold
weather, china bottles are used in many houses instead of those
above described, which then render the water too cold. 8 The two
most common forms of drinking-cups are here represented. Some of
Brass Drinking-cups, one-fifth of the real size.
them have texts of the Kur-an, &c., engraved in the interior, or the
names of " the Seven Sleepers :" but inscriptions of the former kind
I have seldom seen. Every person, before and after drinking, repeats
the same ejaculations as before and after eating; and this he does
each time that he drinks during a meal : each friend present then says
to him, " May it be productive of enjoyment;" 3 to which the reply is,
" God cause thee to have enjoyment." 4
Though we read, in some of the delightful tales of ' The Thousand
and One Nights,' of removing " the table of viands " 5 and bringing
"the table of wine," 6 this prohibited beverage is not often intro-
duced in general society, either during or after the meal, or at
other times, by the Muslims of Egypt in the present day. Many of
them, however, habitually indulge in drinking wine with select parties
of their acquaintance. The servants of a man who is addicted to this
habit know such of his friends as may be admitted, if they happen to
call when he is engaged in this unlawful pleasure; and to all others
they say that he is not at home, or that he is in the hareem. Drinking
1 "M6yetzahr," or " moyet zahr naring." gan" or "demijan," a large bottle, "la dame-
2 Baron Hammer-Purgstall has remarked, that Jeanne."
two other vessels should have been mentioned 3 "Heneean."
here (in the first edition of this work), more espe- * " Allah yehenneek " (for " yuhenneek ").
cially because their names have been adopted in 5 " Sufrat et-ta'dm."
European languages : they are the *' garrah " or 6 " Sufrat el-mudam."
"jarrah," a water-jar or pitcher, and tho "demi-
150 CHAPTER V.
wine is indulged in by such persons before and after supper, and
during that meal ; but it is most approved before supper, as they say
that it quickens the appetite. The " table of wine " is usually thus
prepared, according to a penitent Muslim wine-bibber, who is one of
my friends (I cannot speak on this subject from my own experience ;
for, as I never drink wine, I have "never been invited to join a Muslim
wine-party) : a round japanned tray, or a glass dish, is placed on the
stool before mentioned : on this are generally arranged two cut-glass
jugs, one containing wine, 1 and the other, rosoglio ; 2 and sometimes
two or more bottles besides : several small glasses are placed with
these; and glass saucers of dried and fresh fruits, and, perhaps,
pickles : lastly, two candles, and often a bunch of flowers stuck in a
candlestick, arc put upon the tray.
The Egyptians have various kinds of sherbets, or sweet drinks.
The most common kind 3 is merely sugar and water, but very sweet :
lemonade * is another : a third kind, the most esteemed/ is prepared
from a hard conserve of violets, made by pounding violet-flowers,
and then boiling them with sugar : this violet-sherbet is of a green
colour: a fourth kind* is prepared from mulberries: a fifth/ from
sorrel. There is also a kind of sherbet sold in the streets/ which is
made with raisins, as its name implies : another kind, which is a
strong infusion of licorice-root, and called by the name of that root /
and a third kind, which is prepared from the fruit of the locust-tree,
and called, in like manner, by the name of the fruit. 10 The sherbet is
Sherbet-cups.
served in covered glass cups, generally called "kullehs," containing
about three-quarters of a pint ; some of which (the more common
1 "Nebeed" (more properly, "nebeedh:" see 6 " Sharab et-toot."
page 94), or " mudam." 7 Sharab el-ljonimeyd."
a ^u 11 ^' 06 ;' u u^ , >. 8 Called "zebeeb." This name is also given to
a Called simply "sharbdt," or "sharbat suk- nn intoxicating conserve,
kar," or only " sukkar." * * E rk goos."
* " Leymoonateh," or * sharab el-leymoon." w> "Kharroob*'
* "Sharabel-benefseg."
DOMESTIC LIFE.
151
kind) are ornamented with gilt flowers, &c. The sherbet-cups are
placed on a round tray, and covered with a round piece of embroidered
silk, or cloth of gold. On the right arm of the person who presents
the sherbet is hung a large oblong napkin with a wide embroidered
border of gold and coloured silks at each end. This is ostensibly
offered for the purpose of wiping the lips after drinking the sherbet;
but it is really not so much for use as for display : the lips are seldom
or scarcely touched with it.
The interval between supper and the a 'eshe/" or time of the
prayers of nightfall, is generally passed in smoking a pipe, and
sipping a cup of coffee. The enjoyment of the pipe may be in-
terrupted by prayer, but is continued afterwards ; and sometimes
draughts or chess, or some other game, or at least conversation,
contributes to make the time glide away more agreeably. The
members of an Egyptian family in easy circumstances may pass their
time very pleasantly ; but they do so in a quiet way. The men often
pay evening visits to their friends, at, or after, supper-time. They
commonly use, on these and similar occasions, a folding lantern
(" fanoos "), made of waxed cloth strained over rings of wire, and
a top and bottom of tinned copper. This kind of lantern is here
represented, together with the common lamp (" kandeel "), and its
Lantern and Lamp.
usual receptacle of wood, which serves to protect the flame from the
wind. The lamp is a small vessel of glass, having a little tube in the
bottom, in which is stuck a wick formed of cotton twisted round a
piece of straw. Some water is poured in first, and then the oil. A
lamp of this kind is often hung over the entrance of a house. By
152 CHAPTER V.
night, the interiors of the houses present a more dull appearance than
in the day : the light of one or two candles (placed on the floor or on
a stool, and sometimes surrounded by a large glass shade, or enclosed
in a glass lantern, on account of the windows' being merely of lattice-
work,) is generally thought sufficient for a large and lofty saloon.
Few of the Egyptians sit up later, in summer, than three or four
o'clock, which is three or four hours after sunset j for their reckoning
of time is from sunset at every season of the year : in winter they
often sit up five or six hours.
Thus the day is usually spent by men of moderate wealth who
have no regular business to attend to, or none that requires their own
active superintendence. But it is the habit of the tradesman to
repair, soon after breakfast, to his shop or warehouse, and to remain
there until near sunset. 1 He has leisure to smoke as much as he
likes ; and his customers often smoke with him. To some of these
he offers his own pipe (unless they have theirs with them), and a cup
of coffee, which is obtained from the nearest coffee-shop. A great
portion of the day he sometimes passes in agreeable chat with cus-
tomers, or with the tradesmen of the next or opposite shops. He
generally says his prayers without moving from his shop. Shortly
after the noon-prayers, or sometimes earlier or later, he eats a light
meal, such as a plate of kebb and a cake of bread (which a boy or
maid daily brings from his house, or procures in the market), or some
bread and cheese or pickles, &c., which are carried about the streets
for sale : and if a customer be present, he is always invited, and often
pressed, to partake of this meal. A large earthen bottle of water
is kept in the shop, and replenished, whenever necessary, by a passing
" sakka," or water-carrier. In the evening, the tradesman returns to
his house, eats his supper, and, soon after, retires to bed.
It is the general custom in Egypt for the husband and wife to
sleep in the same bed, except among the wealthy classes, who mostly
prefer separate beds. The bed is usually thus prepared in the houses
of persons of moderate wealth : a mattress, 8 stuffed with cotton,
about six feet long, and three or four feet in width, is placed upon a
low frame, generally made of palm-sticks : 8 a pillow is placed for the
head, and a sheet spread over this and the mattress : the only cover-
ing in summer is generally a thin blanket ; 4 and in winter, a thick
1 A description of the shops, and a further ac- * " Tarrahah."
count 6f the tradesmen of Cairo, will be given in " Sereer "
another chapter, on Industry. 4 Heram "
DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 53
quilt/ stuffed with cotton. If there be no frame, the mattress is
placed upon the floor ; or two mattresses are laid together, one upon
the other, with the sheet, pillow, &c. ; arid often, a cushion of the
deewd,n is placed on each side. A musquito-curtain 2 is suspended
over the bed by means of four strings, which are attached to nails in
the wall. The dress is seldom changed on going to bed; and in
winter, many people sleep with all their ordinary clothes on, except
the gibbeh, er cloth coat; but in summer, they sleep almost, or
entirely, unclad. In winter, the bed is prepared in a small closet
(called ^"khazneh ") : in summer, in a large room. All the bed-
clothes are rolled up, in the day-time, and placed on one side, or in
the closet above-mentioned. During the hottest weather, many
people sleep upon the house-top, or in a " fes-hah " (or " fesahah "),
which is an uncovered apartment; but ophthalmia and other diseases
often result from their thus exposing themselves to the external air
at night. The most common kind of frame for the bed, made of
palm-sticks, harbours bugs, which are very abundant in Egypt in the
summer, as fleas are in the winter. These and other plagues to
which the people of Egypt are exposed by night and day have been
before mentioned. 8 With regard to the most disgusting of them, the
lice, it may here be added, that, though they are not always to be
avoided even by the most scrupulous cleanliness, a person who
changes his linen after two or three days' wear is very seldom
annoyed by these vermin ; and when he is, they are easily removed,
not attaching themselves to the skin : they are generally found in the
linen. A house may be kept almost clear of fleas by frequent washing
and sweeping ; and the flies may be kept out by placing nets at the
doors and windows, even though the meshes be large enough to
admit them : but it is impossible to purify an Egyptian house from
bugs, if it contain much wood-work, which is generally the case.
The male servants 4 lead a very easy life, with the exception of the
" sai's," or groom, who, whenever his master takes a ride, runs before
or beside him ; and this he will do in the hottest weather for hours
together, without appearing fatigued. Almost every wealthy person
in Cairo has a " boww&b/' or door-keeper, always at the door of his
house, and several other male servants. Most of these are natives of
Egypt ; but many Nubians are also employed as servants in Cairo
1 *' Leh&f." close canopy of the width and length of the bed.
8 " Ntfmoosceyeh." It is composed of muslin, 8 In the Introduction to this work,
linen of an open texture, or crape, and forms a * " Khadddmeen," singular "khaddam."
X
154 CHAPTER V.
and other Egyptian towns. The latter are mostly bowwabs, and are
generally esteemed more honest than the Egyptian servants. The
wages of the male servants are very small, usually from a dollar to
two dollars (or from four to eight shillings) per month : but they
receive many presents. 1 On the " 'eed " (or festival) after Ramadan,
the master generally gives, to each of his servants, part or the whole
of a new suit of clothes, consisting of an " 'eree " (a blue shirt, which
is their outer dress), a " tarboosh," and a turban. Other articles of
dress which they require during the year (except, sometimes, shoes,)
the servants are obliged to provide for themselves. Besides what
their master gives them, they also receive small presents of money
from his visiters, and from the tradespeople with whom he deals ;
particularly whenever he has made any considerable purchase. They
sleep in the clothes which they wear during the day, each upon a
small mat; and in winter they cover themselves with a cloak 2 or
blanket. In some respects, they are often familiar in their manners
to their master, even laughing and joking with him : in others, they
are very submissive; paying him the utmost honour, and bearing
corporal chastisement from his hand with child-like patience.
The male black slave 8 is treated with more consideration than
the free servant ; and leads a life well suited to his lazy disposition.
If discontented with his situation, he can legally compel his master
to sell him. Many of the slaves in Egypt wear the Turkish military
dress. They are generally the greatest fanatics in the East ; and
more accustomed than any other class to insult the Christians and
every people who are not of the faith which they have themselves
adopted without knowing more of its doctrines than Arab children
who have been but a week at school. Of the female slaves, some
account will be given in the next chapter.
An acquaintance with the modern inhabitants of Egypt leads us
often to compare their domestic habits with those of Europeans in
the middle ages; and, perhaps, in this comparison, the points of
resemblance which we observe, with regard to the men, are more
striking than the contrasts ; but the reverse will be found to be the
case when we consider the state of the females.
1 The wages required from European travellers excellent effects ; but they too often serve to en-
are much higher than those obtained from na- courage roguery,
tives; and larger and more frequent presents are * See Exodus, xxii. 26, 27.
expected from the former. These presents, when 3 Called " 'abd."
judiciously bestowed, are generally productive of
( 155 )
CHAPTER VI.
DOMESTIC LIFE -continued.
QUITTING the lower apartments, where we have been -long detained, I
must enter upon a more presumptuous office than I have yet under-
taken, which is that of a guide to the "hareem:" 1 but first I must
give some account of marriage, and the marriage-ceremonies.
To abstain from marrying when a man has attained a sufficient
age, and when there is no just impediment, is esteemed, by the
Egyptians, improper, and even disreputable. For being myself guilty
of this fault (to use no harsher term), I suffered much inconvenience
and discomfort during my first and second visits to this country, and
endured many reproaches. During the former of those visits, having
occasion to remove from a house which I had occupied for some months
in a great thoroughfare-street in Cairo, I engaged another house, in a
neighbouring quarter : the lease was written, and some money paid
in advance; but a day or two after, the agent of the owner came to
inform me that the inhabitants of the quarter, who were mostly
"shereefs" (or descendants of the Prophet), objected to my living
among them, because I was not married. He added, however, that
they would gladly admit me if I would even purchase a female slave,
which would exempt me from the opprobrium cast upon me by the
want of a wife. I replied that, being merely a sojourner in Egypt, I
did not like to take either a wife or female slave, whom I must soon
abandon : the money that I had paid was, therefore, returned to me.
In another quarter, I was less unfortunate ; such heavy objections on
account of my being unmarried were not raised : I was only required
to promise that no person wearing a hat should come into the quarter
to visit me ; yet, after I had established myself in my new residence,
the Sheykh (or chief) of the quarter often endeavoured to persuade
i The term " hareem " (which, as before men- fies prohibited, sacred, &c. The Turks, and inany
tioned, is applied both to the females of a family of the Arabs, use the synonymous Arable term
and to the apartments which they occupy,) signi- " haram," which the former pronounce " harem."
156 CHAFIEK VI.
me to marry. All my arguments against doing so he deemed of
no weight. " You tell me," said he, ( that in a year or two you
mean to leave this country : now, there is a young widow, who, I am
told, is handsome, living within a few doors of you, who will be glad
to become your wife, even with the express understanding that you
shall divorce her when you quit this place ; though, of course, you
may do so before, if she should not please you." This young damsel
had several times contrived to let me catch a glimpse of a pretty
face, as I passed the house in which she and her parents lived.
What answer could I return ? I replied, that I had actually, by
accident, seen her face, and that she was the last woman I should
wish to marry, in such circumstances; for I was sure that I could
never make up my mind to part with her. But I found it rather
difficult to silence my officious friend. It has been mentioned before,
in the Introduction, that an unmarried man, or one who has not a
female slave, is usually obliged to dwell in a wekaleh, unless he have
some near relation with whom to reside ; but that Franks are now
exempted from this restriction.
The Egyptian females arrive at puberty much earlier than the
natives of colder climates. Many marry at the age of twelve or
thirteen years ; and some remarkably precocious girls are married at
the age of ten : l but such occurrences are not common. Few remain
unmarried after sixteen years of age. An Egyptian girl at the age of
thirteen, or even earlier, may be a mother. The women of Egypt are
generally very prolific ; but females of other countries residing here
often are childless ; and the children of foreigners from comparatively
cool countries, born in Egypt, seldom live to a mature age, even
when the mother is a native. It was partly on this account that the
emancipated Memlooks (or military slaves) usually adopted Mem-
looks.
It is very common among the Arabs of Egypt and of other
countries, but less so in Cairo than in other parts of Egypt, for a man
to marry his first cousin. In this case, the husband and wife continue
to call each other " cousin " because the tie of blood is indissoluble,
but that of matrimony very precarious. A unipn of this kind is
generally lasting, on account of this tie of blood ; and because
mutual intercourse may have formed an attachment between the
parties in tender age ; though, if they be of the higher or middle
They arc often betrothed two or three or more years earlier.
MABEIAGE. 157
classes, the young man is seldom allowed to see the face of his
female cousin, or even to meet and converse with her, after she
has arrived at or near the age of puberty, until she has become
his wife.
Marriages in Cairo are generally conducted, in the case of a
virgin, in the following manner; but in that of a widow, or a
divorced woman, with little ceremony. Most commonly, the mother,
or some other near female relation, of the youth or man who is
desirous of obtaining a wife, describes to him the personal and other
qualifications of the young women with whom she is acquainted, and
directs his choice : l or he employs a " khat'beh," or " kha^ibeh ;" a
woman whose regular business it is to assist men in such cases.
Sometimes two or more women of this profession are employed. A
kbaYbeh gives her report confidentially, describing one girl as being
like a gazelle, pretty and elegant and young; and another, as not
pretty, but rich, and so forth. If the man have a mother and other
near female relations, two or three of these usually go with a
khat'beh to pay visits to several hareems, to which she has access in
her professional character of a match-maker ; for she is employed as
much by the women as by the men. She sometimes also exercises
the trade of a "dellaleh" (or broker) for the sale of ornaments,
clothing, &c., which procures her admission into almost every hareem.
The women who accompany her in search of a wife for their relation
are introduced to the different hareems merely as ordinary visiters ;
and as such, if disappointed, they soon take their leave, though the
object of their visit is of course understood by the other party : but if
they find among the females of a family (and they are sure to see all
who are marriageable) a girl or young woman having the necessary
personal qualifications, they state the motive of their visit, and ask, if
the proposed match be not at once disapproved of, what property,
ornaments, &c., the object of their wishes may possess. If the father
of the intended bride be dead, she may perhaps possess one or more
houses, shops, &c. ; and in almost every case, a marriageable girl of
the middle or higher ranks has a set of ornaments of gold and jewels.
The women-visiters, having asked these and other questions, bring
their report to the expectant youth or man. If satisfied with their
report, he gives a present to the kha^beh, and sends her again to the
1 Abraham's sending a messenger to his own modern Arabs would adopt in similar circum-
eountry to seek a wife for his son Isaac (see stances, if easily practicable.
Genesis, xxiv.) was just such a measure as most
158 CHAPTER VI.
family of his intended wife, to make known to them his wishes. She
generally gives an exaggerated description of his personal attractions,
wealth, &c. For instance, she will say, of a very ordinary young
man, of scarcely any property, and of whose disposition she knows
nothing, "My daughter, the youth who wishes to marry you is
young, graceful, elegant, beardless, has plenty of money, dresses
handsomely, is fond of delicacies, but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone ;
he wants you as his companion ; he will give you everything that
money can procure ; he is a stayer-at-home, and will spend his whole
time with you, caressing and fondling you."
The parents may betroth their daughter to whom they please, and
marry her to him without her consent, if she be not arrived at the
age of puberty; but after she has attained that age, she may choose
a husband for herself, and appoint any man to arrange and effect her
marriage. In the former case, however, the kMt'beh and the rela-
tions of a girl sought in marriage usually endeavour to obtain her
consent to the proposed union. Very often, a father objects to
giving a daughter in marriage to a man who is not of the same pro-
fession or trade as himself; and to marrying a younger daughter
before an elder. 1 The bridegroom can scarcely ever obtain even a
surreptitious glance at the features of his bride, until he finds
her in his absolute possession, unless she belong to the lower classes
of society ; in which case, it is easy enough for him to see her face.
When a female is about to marry, she should have a " wekeel "
(or deputy) to settle the compact, and conclude the contract, for her,
with her proposed husband. If she be under the age of puberty, this
is absolutely necessary; and in this case, her father, if living, or (if
he be dead) her nearest adult male relation, or a guardian appointed
by will, or by the K&dee, performs the office of wekeel : but if she be
of age, she appoints her own wekeel, or may even make the contract
herself; though this is seldom done.
After a youth or man has made choice of a female to demand in
marriage, on the report of his female relations, or that of the
khat'beh, and, by proxy, made the preliminary arrangements before
described with her and her relations in the harcem, he repairs with
two or three of his friends to her wekeel. Having obtained the
wekeel's consent to the union, if the intended bride be under age,
he asks what is the amount of the required "mahr" (or dowry).
1 See Genesis, xxix. 26.
MARRIAGE. 159
The giving of a dowry is indispensable, as I have mentioned in
a former chapter. It is generally calculated in " riyals," of ninety
faddahs (equivalent to about five pence and two-fifths) each. The
riyal is an imaginary money ; not a coin. The usual amount of the
dowry, if the parties be in possession of a moderately good income, is
about a thousand riy&ls (or twenty-two pounds ten shillings) ; or,
sometimes, not more than half that sum. The wealthy calculate the
dowry in purses, of five hundred piasters (about five pounds sterling)
each ; and fix its amount at ten purses, or more. It must be borne
in mind that we are considering the case of a virgin-bride ; the dowry
of a widow or a divorced woman is much less. In settling the amount
of the dowry, as in other pecuniary transactions, a little haggling
frequently takes place : if a thousand riydls be demanded through the
wekeel, the party of the intended bridegroom will probably make an
offer of six hundred : the former party then gradually lowering the
demand, and the other increasing the offer, they at length agree to fix
it at eight hundred. It is generally stipulated that two-thirds of the
dowry shall be paid immediately before the marriage-contract is made;
and the remaining third held in reserve, to be paid to the wife in
case of divorcing her against her own consent, or in case of the
husband's death.
This affair being settled, and confirmed by all persons present
reciting the opening chapter of the Kur-an (the F&t'hah), an early
day (perhaps the day next following) is appointed for paying the
money, and performing the ceremony of the marriage-contract, which
is properly called "'akd en-nikah." 1 The making this contract is
commonly called " ketb el-kitab " (or the writing of the writ) ; but it
is very seldom the case that any document is written to confirm the
marriage, unless the bridegroom is about to travel to another place,
and fears that he may have occasion to prove his marriage where
witnesses of the contract cannot be procured. Sometimes the
marriage-contract is concluded immediately after the arrangement
respecting the dowry, but more generally a day or two after. On the
day appointed for this ceremony, the bridegroom, again accompanied
by two or three- of his friends, goes to the house of the bride, usually
about noon, taking with him that portion of the dowry which he has
promised to pay on this occasion. He and his companions are
1 It is a common belief in Egypt, that, if any soon dissolved: wherefore, few persons do so.
one make a marriage-contract in the month of The most propitious period is the month of
Moharram, the marriage will be unhappy, and Showwal.
160 CHAPTER VI.
received by the bride's wekeel ; and two or more friends of the latter
are usually present. It is necessary that there be two witnesses (and
those must be Muslims) to the marriage-contract, unless in a situation
where witnesses cannot be procured. All persons present recite the
Fdt'hah ; and the bridegroom then pays the money. After this, the
marriage-contract is performed. It is very simple. The bridegroom
and the bride's wekeel sit upon the ground, face to face, with one
knee upon the ground, and grasp each other's right hand, raising the
thumbs, and pressing them against each other. A fikee l is generally
employed to instruct them what they are to say. Having placed a
handkerchief over their joined hands, he usually prefaces the words of
the contract with a " khutbeh," consisting of a few words of exhorta-
tion and prayer, with quotations from the Kur-an and Traditions, on
the excellence and advantages of marriage. He then desires the
bride's wekeel to say, " I betroth [or marry] to thee, my daughter
[or* the female who has appointed me her wekeel] ,* such a one
[naming the bride], the virgin 2 [or the adult virgin], for a dowry of
such an amount." (The words " for a dowry/' &c., are sometimes
omitted.) The bride's wekeel having said this, the bridegroom,
prompted in the same manner by the fikee, says, " I accept from thee
her betrothal [or marriage] to myself, and take her under my care,
and bind myself to afford her my protection ; and ye who are present
bear witness of this." The wekeel addresses the bridegroom in the
same manner a second and a third time ; and each time, the latter
replies as before. Both then generally add, " And blessing be on the
Apostles, and praise be to God, the Lord of the beings of the whole
world : amen :" after which, all present again repeat the Fat'hah. It
is not always the same form of "khutbeh" that is recited on these
occasions; any form may be used; and it maybe repeated by any
person: it is not even necessary; and is often altogether omitted.
The contract concluded, the bridegroom sometimes (but seldom
unless he be a person of the lower orders) kisses the hands of his
friends and others there present; and they are presented with
sherbet, and generally remain to dinner. Each of them receives an
embroidered handkerchief, provided by the family of the bride;
except the fikee, who receives a similar handkerchief, with a small
gold coin tied up in it, from the bridegroom. Before the persons
i This appellation is commonly given to a If the bride be not a virgin, a word importing
schoolmaster. See a note in page 60. this is substituted ; namely, " seyyib," or, more
properly, "theyyib."
MARRIAGE. 161
assembled on this occasion disperse, they settle when the "leylet
ed-dukhleh " is to be : this is the night when the bride is brought
to the house of the bridegroom, and the latter, for the first time,
visits her.
"In general, the bridegroom waits for his bride about eight or ten
days after the conclusion of the contract. Meanwhile, he sends to
her, two or three or more times, some fruit, sweetmeats, &c. ; and
perhaps makes her a present of a shawl, or some other article of
value. The bride's family are at the same time occupied in preparing
for her a stock of household furniture (as deewans, matting, carpets,
bedding, kitchen-utensils, &c.,) and dress. The portion of the dowry
which has been paid by the bridegroom, and generally a much larger
sum (the additional money, which is often more than the dowry
itself, being supplied by the bride's family), is expended in purchasing
the articles of furniture, dress, and ornaments, for the bride. These
articles, which are called " gahdz," are the property of the bride ;
and if she be divorced, she takes them away with her. She cannot,
therefore, with truth be said to be purchased* The furniture is sent,
commonly borne by a train of camels, to the bridegroom's house.
Often, among the articles of the gahaz is a chair for the turban or
head-dress, 2 alluded to in a former page. It is of a large size, but
slight make; the bottom and back being generally of cane-work;
sometimes with a canopy. It is never used to sit upon. The turban,
when placed upon it, is covered with a kerchief of thick silk stuff,
usually ornamented with gold thread. There are sometimes sent two
of these chairs ; one for the turban of the husband, and the other for
the head-dress of the wife.
The bridegroom should receive his bride on the eve of Friday, or
that of Monday; 8 but the former is generally esteemed the more
fortunate period. Let us say, for instance, that the bride is to be
conducted to him on the eve of Friday. During two or three or more
- ! Among the peasants, however, the father, or errors in the account which he has given of the
other lawful guardian of the bride, receives the marriage-ceremonies of the Egyptians, in the
dowry, and gives nothing in return but the girl, illustrations of his "Arabic Proverbs" (pp. 112
and sometimes a little corn, &c. The bridegroom, 118). To mention this I feel to be a duty to
in this case, supplies everything} even the dress myself; but one which I perform with reluctance,
of the bride. and not without the fear that Burckhardt's just
a " Kursee el-'emameh." reputation for general accuracy may make my
s Burckhardt has erred in stating that Monday reader think that he is right in these cases, and
and Thursday are the- days on which the ceremo- that I am wrong. I write these words in Cairo,
nies immediately previous to the marriage-night with his book before me, and after sufficient ex-
ate performed : he should have said Sunday and perience and inquiries.
Thursday. He has also fallen into some other
162
CHAPTER VI.
preceding nights, the street or quarter in which the bridegroom lives
is illuminated with chandeliers and lanterns, or with lanterns and
small lamps, some suspended from cords drawn across from the bride-
groom's and several other houses on each side to the houses opposite ;
Lantern, &c., suspended on the occasion of a Wedding.
and several small silk flags, each of two colours, generally red and
green, are attached to these or other cords. 1 An entertainment is
also given on each of these nights, particularly on the last night
before that on which the wedding is concluded, at the bridegroom's
house. On these occasions, it is customary for the persons invited,
and for all intimate friends, to send presents to his house, a day or
two before the feast which they purpose or expect to attend : they
generally send sugar, coffee, rice, wax-candles, or a lamb : the former
articles are usually placed upon a tray of copper or wood, and covered
with a silk or embroidered kerchief. The guests are entertained on
these occasions by musicians and male or female singers, by dancing
girls, or by the performance of a " khatmeh " or a " zikr." 2
1 The lantern here represented, which is con-
structed of wood, and painted green, red, white,
and blue, is called " tureiya " (the Arabic name
of the Pleiades), and, together with the frame
above, from which six lamps are suspended, and
which is termed "khtitim Sulcynmn" (or Solo-
mon's seal), composes what is called a "heml
kanadeel."
2 These entertainments I do .not here particu-
larly describe, as it is my intention to devote the
whole of a subsequent chapter to the subject of
private festivities. The "khatmeh" is the re-
MARRIAGE. Ifi3
In the houses of the wealthy, the kh&t'beh or kha^behs, together
with the " dayeh " (or midwife) of the family, the " bcllaneh " (or
female attendant of the bath), and the nurse of the bride, are each
presented, a day or two after the conclusion of the contract, with a
piece of gold stuff, a Kashmeer shawl, or a piece of striped silk, such
as yeleks and shintiyans are made of; and, placing these over the
left shoulder, and attaching the edges together on the right side, go
upon asses, with two or more men before them beating kettle-drums
or tabours, to the houses of all the friends of the bride, to invite the
females to accompany her to and from the bath, and to partake of an
entertainment given on that occasion. At every house where they
call, they are treated with a repast, having sent notice the day before
of their intended visit. They arc called "mu-dinat," or, more
properly, " mu-dhinat," vulgarly pronounced " mudnat." 1 have
sometimes seen them walking, and without the drums before them;
but making up for the want of these instruments by shrill, quavering
cries of joy, called "zaghareet." 1
The customs which I am now about to describe are observed by
those classes that compose the main bulk of the population of Cairo.
On the preceding Wednesday (or on the Saturday if the wedding
be to conclude on the eve of Monday), at about the hour of noon, or
a little later, the bride goes in state to the bath. 2 The procession to
the bath is called u Zeffet el-Hammam." It is headed by a party of
musicians with a hautboy, or two, and drums of different kinds. 8
Frequently, as I have mentioned in a former chapter, some person
avails himself of this opportunity to parade his young son previously
to circumcision : the child and his attendants, in this case, follow next
after the musicians, in the manner already described. Sometimes, at
the head of the bride's party are two men who carry the utensils and
linen used in the bath, upon two round trays, each of which is
covered with an embroidered or a plain silk kerchief: also, a sakka,
who gives water to any of the passengers, if asked; and two other
citation of the whole of the lur-an; and the 2 1 have once seen this "zeft'eh," or procession,
"zikr," the repetition of the name of God, or of and a second which will be described hereafter,
the profession of his unity, &c. : I shall have oc- go forth much later, and return an hour after
casion to speak of both more fully in another sunset.
chapter, on the periodical public festivals. 3 The music is generally of a very rude kind ;
1 These cries of the women, which are heard on and the airs usually played are those of popular
various occasions of rejoicing in Egypt and other songs ; specimens of which will be found in this
Eastern countries, are produced by a sharp utter- work,
ance of the voice, accompanied by a quick, tremu-
lous motion of the tongue.
164
CHAPTER VI.
persons, one of whom bears a " kumkum," or bottle, of plain or gilt
silver, or of china, containing rose-water, or orange-flower water,
which he occasionally sprinkles on the passengers ; and the other, a
"mibkharah" 1 (or perfuming-vessel) of silver, with aloes-wood, or
some other odoriferous substance, burning in it : but it is seldom that
the procession is thus attended. In general, the first persons among
the bride's party are several of her married female relations and friends,
1 Pronounced " mibkhar'ah."
MARRIAGE.
165
walking in pairs ; and next, a number of young virgins. The former
are dressed in the usual manner, covered with the black silk habarah :
the latter have white silk habarahs, or shawls. Then follows the
bride, walking under a canopy of silk, of some gay colour, as pink,
rose-colour, or yellow-: or of two colours composing wide stripes,
often rose-colour and yellow. It is carried by four men, by means of
a pole at each corner, and is open only in front ; and at the top of
each of the four poles is attached an embroidered handkerchief. The
dress of the bride, during this procession, entirely conceals her person.
166 CHAPTER VI.
She is generally covered, from head to foot, with a red Kashmeer
shawl; or with a white or yellow shawl, though rarely. Upon her
head is placed a small pasteboard cap, or crown. The shawl is placed
over this, and conceals from the view of the puhlic the richer articles
of her dress, her face, and her jewels, &c., except one or two
"kussahs" 1 (and sometimes other ornaments), generally of diamonds
and emeralds, attached to that part of the shawl which covers her
forehead. She is accompanied by two or three of her female relations
within the canopy; and often, when in hot weather, a woman,
walking backwards before her, is constantly employed in fanning her,
with a large fan of black ostrich-feathers, the lower part of the front
of which is usually ornamented with a piece of looking-glass.
Sometimes one zeffeh, with a single canopy, serves for two brides, who
walk side by side. The procession moves very slowly, and generally
pursues a circuitous route, for the sake of greater display. On
leaving the house, it turns to the right. It is closed by a second
party of musicians, similar to the first, or by two or three drummers.
In the bridal processions of the lower orders, which are often
conducted in the same manner as that above described, the women of
the party frequently utter, at intervals, those shrill cries of joy called
zaghareet, which I have before had occasion to mention ; and females
of the poorer classes, when merely spectators of a zeffeh, often do
the same.
The whole bath is sometimes hired for the bride and her party
exclusively. They pass several hours, or seldom less than two,
occupied in washing, sporting, and feasting; and frequently " 'aPmehs "
(or female singers) are hired to amuse them in the bath : they then
return in the same order in which they came. The expense of the
zeffeh falls on the relations of the bride ; but the feast that follows it
is supplied by the bridegroom.
Having returned from the bath to the house of her family, the
bride and her companions sup together. If 'aTmehs have contributed
to the festivity in the bath, they, also, return with the bride, to .renew
their concert. Their songs are always on the subject of love, and of
the joyous event which occasions their presence. After the company
have been thus entertained, a large quantity of henna having been
prepared, mixed into a paste, the bride takes a lump of it in her hand,
and receives contributions (called " nukoot ") from her guests : each
1 For a description of these ornaments, see the Appendix.
MARRIAGE. 167
of them sticks a coin (usually of gold) in the henna which she holds
upon her hand ; and when the lump is closely stuck with these coins,
she scrapes it off her hand upon the edge of a basin of water. Having
collected in this manner from all her guests, some more henna is
applied to her hands and feet, which are then bound with pieces of
linen; and in this state they remain until the next morning, when
they are found to be sufficiently dyed with its deep orange-red tint.
Her guests make use of the remainder of the dye for their own
hands. This night is called "Leylet el-Henna/' or "the Night
of the Henna."
It is on this night, and sometimes also during the latter half of
the preceding day, that the bridegroom gives his chief entertainment.
cc Mohabbazeen " (or low farce-players) often perform on this occasion
before the house, or, if it be large enough, in the court. The other
and more common performances by which the guests arc amused have
been before mentioned.
On the following day, the bride goes in procession to the house of
the bridegroom. The procession before described is called "the zeffeh
of the bath " to distinguish it from this, which is the more important,
and which is therefore particularly called " Zeffet el-'Arooseh," or
" the Zeffeh of the Bride." In some cases, to diminish the expenses of
the marriage-ceremonies, the bride is conducted privately to the bath,
and only honoured with a zeffeh to the bridegroom's house. This
procession is exactly similar to the former. The bride and her party,
after breakfasting together, generally set out a little after midday.
They proceed in the same order, and at the same slow pace, as in the
zeffeh of the bath ; and, if the house of the bridegroom is near, they
follow a circuitous route, through several principal streets, for the
sake of display. The ceremony usually occupies three or more hours.
Sometimes, before bridal processions of this kind, two swordsmen,
clad in nothing but their drawers, engage each other in a mock
combat; or two peasants cudgel each other with nebboots, or long
staves. In the procession of a bride of a wealthy family, any person
who has the art of performing some extraordinary feat to amuse the
spectators is almost sure of being a welcome assistant, and of receiving
a handsome present. 1 When the seyyid 'Omar, the Nakeeb el-Ashrdf
1 One of the most common of the feats- wit- this empty title, carries a water-skin filled with
nessed on such an occasion is the performance of sand and water, of greater weight, and for a longer
a laborious task by a water-carrier, termed a period, than any of his brethren will venture to
"kciyim," who, for the sake of a present, and do; and this he must accomplish without ever
168 CHAPTER VI.
(or chief of the descendants of the Prophet), who was the main
instrument of advancing Mohammad 'Alee to the dignity of Basha
of Egypt, married a daughter, about forty-five years since, there
walked before the procession a young man who had made an incision
in his abdomen, and drawn out a large portion of his intestines,
which he carried before him on a silver tray. After the procession,
he restored them to their proper place, and remained in bed many
days before he recovered from the effects of this foolish and disgusting
act. Another man, on the same occasion, ran a sword through his
arm, before the crowding spectators, and then bound, over the wound,
without withdrawing the sword, several handkerchiefs, which were
soaked with the blood. These facts were described to me by an
eye-witness. A spectacle of a more singular and more disgusting
nature used to be not uncommon on similar occasions, but is now
very seldom witnessed. 1 Sometimes, also, "Mwees" (or conjurers
and sleight-of-hand performers) exhibit a variety of tricks on these,
occasions. But the most common of all the performances here
mentioned are the mock fights. Similar exhibitions are also some-
times witnessed on the occasion of a circumcision. Grand zeffehs are
sometimes accompanied by a number of cars, each bearing a group of
persons of some manufacture or trade performing the usual work of
their craft; even such as builders, white- washers, &c. ; including
members of all, or almost all, the arts and manufactures practised in
the metropolis. In one car are generally some men making coffee,
which they occasionally present to spectators: in another, in-
strumental musicians: and in another, 'aTmehs (or female -singers).
The bride, in zeffehs of this kind, is sometimes conveyed in a close
European carriage ; but more frequently she and her female relations
and friends are mounted on high-saddled asses, and, with musicians
and female singers before and behind them, close the procession.
The bride and her party, having arrived at the bridegroom's
house, sit down to 'a repast. Her friends, shortly after, take their
departure ; leaving with her only her mother and sister, or other near
female relations, and one or two other women ; usually the bell&neh.
The ensuing night is called " Leylet ed-Dukhleh," or " the Night of
the Entrance."
sitting down, except in a crouching position, to day; bore it the whole night, and the ensuing
rest. In the case of a bridal procession which I day, before and during the procession, and con-
lately witnessed, the keiyim began to carry his tinued to do so till sunset,
burden, a skin of sand and water weighing about ] A correct description of this is given in Burck-
two hundred pounds, at sunset of the preceding hardt's " Arabic Proverbs," pp. 115, 116.
MARRIAGE. 16S
The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset, he goes to the bath,
and there changes his clothes ; or he merely does the latter at home ;
and, after having supped with a party of his friends, waits till a little
before the " 'eshe" (or time of the night-prayer), or until the third or
fourth hour of the night, when, according to general custom, he
should repair to some celebrated mosque, such as that of the
-Hasancyn, and there say his prayers. If young, he is generally
honoured with a zeffeh on this occasion : in this case, he goes to the
mosque preceded by musicians with drums and a hautboy or two, and
accompanied by a number of friends, and by several men bearing
" mesh'als." The mesh'al is a kind of cresset, that is, a staff with a
Mesh'als.
cylindrical frame of iron at the top filled with flaming wood, or
having two, three, four, or five of these receptacles for fire. The
party usually proceeds to the mosque with a quick pace, and without
much order. A second group of musicians, with the same instru-
ments, or with drums only, closes the procession. The bridegroom is
generally dressed in a kuftan with red stripes, and a red gibbeh, with
a Kashmeer shawl of the same colour for his turban ; and walks
between two friends ^similarly dressed. The prayers are commonly
performed merely as a matter of ceremony ; and it is frequently the
170 CHAPTER VI.
case that the bridegroom does not pray at all, or prays without having
previously performed the wudoo, like memlooks who say their prayers
only because they fear their master. 1 The procession returns from
the mosque with more order and display, and very slowly; perhaps
because it would be considered unbecoming in the bridegroom to
hasten home to take possession of his bride. It is headed, as before,
by musicians, and two or more bearers of mesh'als. These are gene-
rally followed by two men, bearing, by means of a pole resting
horizontally upon their shoulders, a hanging frame, to which are
attached about sixty or more small lamps, in four circles, one above
another; the uppermost of which circles is made to revolve, being
turned round occasionally by one of the two bearers. These numerous
lamps, and several mesh'als besides those before mentioned, brilliantly
illunjine the streets through which the procession passes, and produce
a remarkably picturesque effect. The bridegroom and his friends and
other attendants follow, advancing in the form of an oblong ring,
all facing the interior of the ring, and each bearing in his hand one
or more wax candles, and sometimes a sprig of henna or some other
flower, except the bridegroom and the friend on either side of him.
These three form the latter part of the ring, which generally consists
of twenty or more persons. At frequent intervals, the party stops for
a few minutes ; and during each of these pauses, a boy or man, one
of the persons who compose the ring, sings a few words of an
epithalamium. The sounds of the drums, and the shrill notes of the
hautboy (which the bride hears half an hour or more before the pro-
cession arrives at the house), cease during these songs. The train is
closed, as in the former case (when on its way to the mosque), by a
second group of musicians.
In the manner above described, the bridegroom's zeffeh is most
commonly conducted; but there is another mode, that is more
respectable, called " zeffeh saddtee," which signifies " the gentlemen's
zeffeh." In this, the bridegroom is accompanied by his friends in the
manner described above, and attended and preceded by men bearing
mesh'als, but not by musicians : in the place of these are about six or
eight men, who, from their being employed as singers on occasions of
this kind, are called " wildd el-laydlee," or " sons of the nights."
Thus attended, he goes to the mosque ; and while he returns slowly
thence to his house, the singers above mentioned chant, pr rather
Hence this kind of prayer is called " salah memaleekeeyeh," or "the prayer of memlooks."
MARRIAGE. 171
sing, " muweshshahs " (lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having
returned to the house, these same persons chant portions of the
Kur-an, one after another, for the amusement of the guests ; then,
all together, recite the opening chapter (the FaVhah) ; after which,
one of them sings a " kaseedeh " (or short poem) in praise of the
Prophet : lastly, all of them again sing muweshshahs. After having
thus performed, they receive " nukoot " (or contributions of money)
from the bridegroom and his friends.
Soon after his return from the mosque, the bridegroom leaves his
friends in a lower apartment, enjoying their pipes and coffee and
sherbet. The bride's mother and sister, or whatever other female
relations were left with her, are above ; and the bride herself, and the
bellaneh, in a separate apartment. If the bridegroom is a youth or
young man, it is considered proper that he, as well as the bride,
should exhibit spine degree of bashfulness : one of his friends, there-
fore, carries him a part of the way up to the hareem. Sometimes,
when the parties are persons of wealth, the bride is displayed before
the bridegroom in different dresses, to the number of seven: but
generally he finds her with the belMneh alone; and on entering the
apartment, he gives a present to this attendant, and she at once
retires. The bride has a shawl thrown over her head; and the
bridegroom must give her a present of money, which is called "the
price of the uncovering of the face," 1 before he attempts to remove
this, which she does not allow him to do without some apparent
reluctance, if not violent resistance, in order to shew her maiden
modesty. On removing the covering, he says, " In the name of God,
the Compassionate, the Merciful;" and then greets her with this
compliment : " The night be blessed," or " is blessed :" to which
she replies, if timidity do not choke her utterance, " God bless thee."
The bridegroom now, in most cases, sees the face of his bride for the
first time, and generally finds her nearly what he has been led to
expect. Often, but not always, a curious ceremony is then performed.
The bridegroom takes off every article of the bride's clothing except
her shirt ; seats her upon a mattress or bed, the head of which is
turned towards the direction of Mekkeh, placing her so that her back
is also turned in that direction; and draws forward, and spreads
upon the bed, the lower part of the front of her shirt : having done
this, he stands at the distance of rather less than three feet before
11 TJaljlj: keshf el-wishsh." " Wishsh " is a vulgar corruption of " wegh," or
172 CHAPTER VI.
her, and performs the prayers of two rek'ahs ; laying his head and
hands, in prostration, upon the part of her shirt that is extended
before her lap. He remains with her but a few minutes longer i 1
having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls
to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in
anxious suspense,) to raise their cries of joy, or zaghareet ; and the
shrill sounds make known to the persons below and in the neighbour-
hood, and often, responded to by other women, spread still further
the news, that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride :
he soon after descends to rejoin his friends, and remains with them
an hour, or more, before he returns to his wife. It very seldom
happens that the husband, if disappointed in his bride, immediately
disgraces and divorces her ; in general, he retains her, in this case, a
week or more.
Having now described the most usual manner in which the
marriages of virgin-brides are conducted in Cairo, I may add a few
words on some of the ceremonies observed in other cases of matri-
mony, both of virgins and of widows or divorced women.
The daughters of the great, generally having baths in their own
houses, seldom go to the public bath previously to marriage. A
bride of a wealthy family, or of one that affects gentility, and her
female relations and friends, if there is not a bath in her house, go to
the public bath, which is hired for them exclusively ; but many of
such persons prefer to go thither, and to the bridegroom' s house,
without music or canopy, mounted on high-saddled asses : the bride
herself generally wearing a Kashmeer shawl, in the manner of a
habarah. Sometimes, however, the bridal party is accompanied by a
group of female singers ('al'mehs), likewise mounted on asses, and
singing as they pass along.
If the bridegroom or the bride's family have eunuchs, these ride
before the bride ; and sometimes a man runs at the head of the pro-
cession, crying, "Bless ye the Prophet !" 2 This man, on entering the
house, throws down upon the threshold some leaves of the white
beet ("salk"), over which the ladies ride, The object of this act is
to propitiate fortune. The same man then exclaims, " Assistance
from God, and a speedy victory !" 3
1 I. beg to refer the reader, if he desire further to be particularly concise in this case,
details on this subject, to page 117 of Burckhardt's 2 " Salloo 'a-n-nebee." " 'A-n-nebee " is a vul-
" Arabic Proverbs." His account might have gar contraction of " 'ala-n-nebee."
been more complete ; but he seems to have studied 3 #ur-an, ch Ixi. v. 13.
MARRIAGE. 173
Marriages, among the Egyptians, are sometimes conducted with-
out any pomp or ceremony even in the case of virgins, by mutual
consent of the bridegroom and the bride's family, or the bride herself;
and widows and divorced women are never honoured with a zeffeh on
marrying again. The mere sentence, "I give myself up to thee," 1
uttered by a female to a man who proposes to become her. husband
(even without the presence of witnesses, if none can easily be pro-
cured), renders her his legal wife, if arrived at puberty ; and marriages
with widows and divorced women, among the Muslims of Egypt, and
other Arabs, are sometimes concluded in this simple manner. The
dowry of widows and divorced women is generally one quarter or third
or half the amount of that of a virgin.
In Cairo, among persons not of the lowest order, though in very
humble life, the marriage-ceremonies are conducted in the same
manner as among the middle orders. But when the expenses of such
zeffehs as I have described cannot by any means be paid, the bride is
paraded in a very simple manner, covered with a shawl (generally
red), and surrounded by a group of her female relations and friends,
dressed in their best, or in borrowed, clothes, and enlivened by no
other sounds of joy than their zaghareet, which they repeat at frequent
intervals.
The general mode of zeffeh among the inhabitants of the villages
is different from those above described. The bride, usually covered
with a shawl, is seated on a camel; and so conveyed to the bride-
groom's dwelling. Sometimes four or five women or girls sit with
her, on the same camel ; one on either side of her, and two or three
others behind : the seat being made very wide, and usually covered
with carpets ur other drapery. She is followed by a group of women
singing. In the evening of the wedding, and often during several
previous evenings, in a village, the male and female friends of the two
parties meet at the bridegroom's house, and pass several hours of
the night/ in the open air, amusing themselves with songs and a
rude kind of dance, accompanied by the sounds of a tambourine
or some kind of drum : both sexes sing ; but only the women dance.
I have introduced here these few words on the marriage-ceremonies
of the peasantry to avoid scattering notes on subjects of the same
nature. I now revert to the customs of the people of Cairo.
On the morning after the marriage, "khawals m or "ghazeeyehs"
1 " VVahebtu lak nefsee." a A khiiwal is also called "ghaish;" plural, "gheeyash."
174 CHAPTER VI.
(dancing men or girls) perform in the street before the bridegroom's
house, or in the court. 1 On the same morning also, if the bridegroom
is a young man, the person who carried him up stairs generally takes
him and several friends to an entertainment in the country, where
they spend the whole day. This ceremony is called " el-huroobeh,"
or the flight. Sometimes the bridegroom himself makes the arrange-
ments for it; and pays part of the expenses, if they exceed the
amount of the contributions of his friends ; for they give nukoot on this
occasion. Musicians and dancing-girls are often hired to attend the
entertainment. If the bridegroom is a person of the lower orders, he
is conducted back in procession, preceded by three or four musicians
with drums and hautboys ; his friends and other attendants carrying
each a nosegay, as they sometimes do in the zeffeh of the preceding
night ; and if their return is after sunset, they are accompanied by
men bearing mesh'als, lamps, &c.; and the friends of the bride-
groom carry lighted wax candles, besides the nosegays. 8 Subse-
quent festivities occasioned by marriage will be described in a later
chapter.
The husband, if he can conveniently so arrange, generally prefers
that his mother should reside with him and his wife ; that she may
protect his wife's honour, and consequently his own also. It is said
that the mother-in-law is for this reason called "hamah." 3 The
women of Egypt are said to be generally prone to criminal intrigues ;
and I fear that, in this respect, they are not unjustly accused.
Sometimes a husband keeps his wife in the house of her mother, and
pays the daily expenses of both. This ought to make the mother
very careful with regard to expenditure, and strict as to her daughter's
conduct, lest the latter should be divorced; but it is said that, in
this case, she often acts as her daughter's procuress, and teaches her
innumerable tricks, by which to gain the upper hand over her
husband, and to drain his purse. The influence of the wife's mother
is also scarcely less feared when she only enjoys occasional oppor-
1 This performance is called the bride's "saba- vering her face, and wears, externally, the most
heeyeh." remarkable of her bridal garments (mentioned by
Among the peasants of Upper Egypt, the re- Burckhardt in the place before referred to), which
lations and acquaintances of the bridegroom and in some parts of Egypt, is hung over the door of
bride meet together on the day after the mar- a peasant's house after marriage, Other women
riage ; and while a number of the men clap their similarly veiled, and dressed in their best, or bor-
hands, as an accompaniment to a tambourine, or rowed, clothes, continue the dance about two
two,, and any other instruments that can be pro- hours, or more.
cured, the bride dances before them for a short s Thus commonly pronounced, for "hamah," a
time. She has a head-veil reaching to her heels, word derived from the verb "hama," "he pro-
and a printed cotton handkerchief completely co- tectod, or guarded."
THE HAREEM. 175
tunities of seeing her daughter : hence it is held more prudent for a
man to marry a female who has neither mother nor any near relations
of her own sex; and some wives are even prohibited receiving any
female friends but those who are relations of the husband : they are
very few, however, upon whom such severe restrictions are imposed.
For a person who has become familiar with male Muslim society
in Cairo, without marrying, it is not so difficult as might be imagined
by a stranger to obtain, directly and indirectly, correct and ample in-
formation respecting the condition and habits of the women. Many
husbands of the middle classes, and some of the higher orders, freely
talk of the affairs of the hareem with one who professes to agree with
them in their general moral sentiments, if they have not to converse
through the medium of an interpreter.
Though the women have a particular portion of the house allotted
to them, the wives, in general, are not to be regarded as prisoners ;
for they are usually at liberty to go out and pay visits, as well as
to receive female visiters, almost as often as they please. The slaves,
indeed, being subservient to the wives, as well as to their master, or,
if subject to the master only, being under an authority almost un-
limited, have not that liberty. One of the chief objects of the master
in appropriating a distinct suite of apartments to his women is to pre-
vent their being seen by the male domestics and other men without
being covered in the manner prescribed by their religion. The
following words of the Kur-dn shew the necessity under which a
Muslimeh is placed of concealing whatever is attractive in her person
or attire from all men, except certain relations and some other
persons. " And speak unto the believing women, that they restrain
their eyes, and preserve their modesty, and discover not their
ornaments, except what [necessarily] appeareth thereof : and let them
throw their veils over their bosoms, and not shew their ornaments,
unless to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands' fathers,
or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their
brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or those
[captives] which their right hands shall possess, or unto such men as
attend [them] and have no need [of women], or unto children:"
" and let them not make a noise with their feet, that their ornaments
which they hide may [thereby] be discovered." 1 The last passage
alludes to the practice of knocking together the anklets which the
1 Chapter xxiv. v. 31.
176 CHAPTER VI.
Arab women in the time of the Prophet used to wear ; and which are
still worn by many women in Egypt. 1
I must here transcribe two notes of eminent commentators on the
Kur-dn, in illustration of the above extract, and inserted in Sale's
translation. This I do, because they would convey an erroneous
idea of modern customs with regard to the admission, or non-
admission, of certain persons into the hareem. The first is on the
above words "or their women/' which it thus explains: "That is,
such as are of the Mohammadan religion : it being reckoned by some
unlawful, or, at least, indecent, for a woman who is a true believer to-
uncover herself before one who is an infidel ; because the latter will
hardly refrain from describing her to the men : but others suppose all
women in general are here excepted; for, in this particular, doctors
differ." In Egypt, and, I believe, in every other Muslim country, it
is not now considered improper for any woman, whether independent,
or a servant, or a slave, a Christian, a Jewess, a Muslimeh, or a
pagan, to enter a Muslim's hareem. The second of the notes above
alluded to is on the words "or those captives;" and is as follows :
" Slaves of either sex are included in this exception, and, as some
think, domestic servants who are not slaves, as those of a different
nation. It is related that Mohammad once made a present of a
man-slave to his daughter Fatimeh; and when he brought him to
her, she had on a garment which was so scanty, that she was obliged
to leave either her head or her feet uncovered : and that the Prophet,
seeing her in great confusion on that account, told her, she need be
under no concern, for that there was none present but her father and
her slave." Among the Arabs of the Desert, this may still be the
case; but in Egypt I have never heard of an instance of an adult
male slave being allowed to see the hareem of a respectable man,
whether he belonged to that hareem or not ; and am assured that it
is never permitted. Perhaps the reason why the man-slave of a
woman is allowed this privilege by the Iur-n is, because she cannot
become his lawful wife as long as he continues her slave : but this
is a poor reason for granting him access to the hareem, in such a
state of society. It is remarkable that, in the verse of the Kur-&n
above quoted, uncles are not mentioned as privileged to see their
nieces unveiled: some think that they are not admissible, and for
this reason, lest they should describe the persons of jtheir nieces to
i See Isaiah, iii. 16.
THE ^REEM. 177
their sons ; for it is regarded as highly improper for a man to
describe the features or person of a female (as to say, that she has
large eyes, a straight nose, small mouth, &c.,) to one of his own sex
by whom it is unlawful for her to be seen, though it is not considered
indecorous to describe her in general terms, as, for instance, to say,
" She is a sweet girl, and set off with kohl and henna."
It may be mentioned here, as a general rule, that a man is
allowed to see unveiled only his own wives and female slaves, and
those females whom he is prohibited, by law, from marrying, on
account of their being within certain degrees of consanguinity or
family connection, or having given him suck, or being nearly related
to his foster-mother. 1 The high antiquity of the veil has been
alluded to in the first chapter of this work,. It has also been men-
tioned, that it is considered more necessary, in Egypt, for a woman to
cover the upper and back part of her head than her face ; and more
requisite for her to conceal her face than most other parts of her
person : for instance, a female who cannot be persuaded to unveil her
face in the presence of men, will think it but little shame to display
the whole of her bosom, or the greater part of her leg. There are,
it is true, many women among the lower classes in this country who
constantly appear in public with unveiled face ; but they are almost
constrained to do so by the want of a burko' (or face-veil), and the
difficulty of adjusting the tarhah (or head- veil), of which scarcely any
woman is destitute, so as to supply the place of the former; particu-
larly when both their hands are occupied in holding some burden
which they are carrying upon the head. When a respectable woman
is, by any chance, seen with her head or face uncovered, by a man
who is not entitled to enjoy that privilege, she quickly assumes or
adjusts her tarhah, and often exclaims, " my fright \" z or " my
sorrow !" 8 Motives of coquetry, however, frequently induce an Egyp-
tian woman to expose her face before a man when she thinks that she
may appear to do so unintentionally, or that she may be supposed not
to see him. A man may also occasionally enjoy opportunities of seeing
the face of an Egyptian lady when she really thinks herself unob-
served ; sometimes at an open lattice, and sometimes on a house-top.
Many small houses in Cairo have no apartment on the ground-floor
for the reception of male visiters, who therefore ascend to an upper
i See the chapter on Religion and Laws. " Ya dahwet'ee^'
Eunuchs are allowed to see the face of any 3 " Ya nedam'tee," for " nedametee."
woman ; and so are young: boys.
2 A
178 QHAPTER VI.
room i but as they go upstairs, they exclaim, several times, " Des-
toorl" ( Permission!"), or "Y6Sdtir!" (" Protector !" that is,
" protecting God !"), or use some similar ejaculation, in order to
warn any woman who may happen to be in the way, to retire, or to
veil herself; which she does by drawing a part of her tarhah before
her face, so as to leave, at most, only one eye visible. To such an
absurd pitch do the Muslims carry their feeling of the sacredness of
women, that entrance into the tombs of some females is denied to
men ; as, for instance, the tornbs of the Prophet' s wives and other
females of his family, in the burial-ground of El-Medeeneh ; into
which women are freely admitted : and a man and woman they never
bury in the same vault, unless a wall separate the bodies. Yet there
are, among the Egyptians, a few persons who are much less particular
in this respect : such is one of my Muslim friends here, who generally
allows me to see his mother when I call upon him. She is a widow,
of about fifty years of age ; but, being very fat, and not looking -so
old, she calls herself forty. She usually comes to the door of the
apartment of the hareem in which I am received (there being no lower
apartment in the house for male visiters), and sits there upon the
floor, but will never enter the room. Occasionally, and as if by
accident, she shews me the whole of her face, with plenty of kohl
round her eyes; and does not attempt to conceal her diamonds,
emeralds, and other ornaments; but rather the reverse. The wife,
however, I am never permitted to see ; though once I was allowed
to talk to her, in the presence of her husband, round the corner of a
passage at the top of the stairs.
I believe that, in Egypt, the women are generally under less re-
straint than in any other country of the Turkish Empire ; so that it is
not uncommon to see females of the lower orders flirting and jesting
with men in public, and men laying their hands upon them very
freely. Still it might be imagined that the women of the higher and
middle classes feel themselves severely oppressed, and are much dis-
contented with the state of seclusion to which they are subjected : but
this is not commonly the case ; on the contrary, an Egyptian wife
who is attached to her husband is apt to think, if he allow her
unusual liberty, that he neglects her, and does not sufficiently love
her ; and to envy those wives who are kept and watched with greater
strictness.
It is not very common for an Egyptian to have more than one
wife, or a concubine-slave ; though the law allows him four wives (as
THE QABJEEM. 179
I have before stated), and, according to common opinion, as many
concubine-Slaves as he may choose. But, though a man restrict
himself to a single wife, he may change as often as he desires ; and
there are certainly not many persons in Cairo who have not divorced
one wife, if they have been long married. The husband may, when-
ever he pleases, say to his wife, " Thou art divorced :" 1 if it be his
wish, whether reasonable or not, she must return to her parents or
friends. This liability to an unmerited divorcement is the source of
more uneasiness to many wives than all the other troubles to which
they are exposed ; as they may thereby be reduced to a state of great
destitution : but to others, who hope to better their condition, it is, of
course, exactly the contrary. I have mentioned, in a former chapter, 2
that a man may divorce his wife twice, and each time receive her
again without any ceremony ; but that he cannot legally take her
again after a third divorce until she has been married and divorced
by another man. The consequences of a triple divorce conveyed in
one sentence 3 are the same, unless the man and his wife agree to
infringe the law, or the former deny his having pronounced the sen-
tence ; in which latter case, the woman may have much difficulty to
enforce his compliance with the law, if she be inclined to do so.
In illustration of this subject, I may mention a case in which an
acquaintance of mine was concerned as a witness of the sentence of
divorce. He was sitting in a coffee-shop with two other men, one of
whom had just been irritated by something that his wife had said or
done. After a short conversation upon this affair, the angry husband
sent for his wife, and, as soon as she .came, said to her, " Thou art
trebly divorced :" then, addressing his two companions, he added,
"You, my brothers, are witnesses." Shortly after, however, he
repented of this act, and wished to take back his divorced wife ; but
she refused to return to him, and appealed to the " Shara Allah " (or
Law of God). The case was tried at the Mahkemeh. The woman,
who was the plaintiff, stated that the defendant was her husband;
that he had pronounced against her the sentence of a triple divorce ;
and that he now wished her to return to him, and live with him as
his wife, contrary to the law, and consequently in a state of sin. The
defendant denied that he had divorced her. " Have you witnesses ?"
said the judge to the plaintiff. She answered, " I have here two
witnesses." These were the men who were present in the coffee-shop
i " Entee talifcah." s Enteo talifcah bi-t-teliteh."
3 On the Religion and Laws.
180 CHAPTER VJ.
when the sentence of divorce was pronounced. They were desired to
give their evidence ; and they stated that the defendant divorced his
wife, by a triple sentence, in their presence. The defendant averred
that she whom he divorced in the coffee-shop was another wife of his.
The plaintiff declared that he had no other wife: but the judge
observed to her that it was impossible she could know that; and
asked the witnesses what was the name of the woman whom the
defendant divorced in their presence ? They answered that they were
ignorant of her name. They were then asked if they could swear
that the plaintiff was the woman who was divorced before them ?
Their reply was, that they could not swear to a woman whom they
had never seen unveiled. In these circumstances, the judge thought
it right to dismiss the case ; and the woman was obliged to return to
her husband. She might have demanded that he should produce the
woman whom he professed to have divorced in the coffee-shop ; but
he would easily have found a woman to play the part he required ; as
it would not have been necessary for her to shew a marriage-certifi-
cate; marriages being almost always performed in Egypt without
any written contract, and sometimes even without witnesses.
It not unfrequently happens that, when a man who has divorced his
wife the third time wishes to take her again (she herself consenting to
their reunion, and there being no witnesses to the sentence of divorce),
he does so without conforming to the offensive law before mentioned.
It is also a common custom for a man in similar circumstances to
employ a person to marry the divorced woman on the condition of his
resigning her, the day after their union, to him, her former husband,
whose wife she again becomes, by a second contract ; though this is
plainly contrary to the spirit of the law. The wife, however, can
withhold her consent, unless she is not of age; in which case, her
father, or other lawful guardian, may marry her to whom he pleases.
A poor man (generally a very ugly person, and often one who is
blind,) is usually chosen to perform this office. He is termed a
" mustahall," or "mustahill/" or a "mohallil." It is often the case
that the man thus employed is so pleased with the beauty of the
woman to whom he is introduced on these terms, or with her riches,
that he refuses to give her up; and the law cannot compel him
to divorce her unless he act unjustly towards her as her husband,
which of course he takes good care not to do. But a person may
employ a mustahall without running this risk. It is the custom of
many wealthy Turks, and of some of the people of Egypt, to make
THE HAREEM. 181
use of a slave, generally a black, their own property, to officiate in
this character. Sometimes, a slave is purchased for this purpose ; or
if the person who requires him for such a service be acquainted with
a slave-dealer, he asks from the latter a present of a slave ; signifying
that he will give him back again. The uglier the slave, the better.
The 'Turks generally choose one not arrived at puberty ; which the
tenets of their sect allow. As soon as the woman has accomplished
her "'eddeh" (or the period during which she is obliged to wait
before she can marry again), the husband who divorced her, having
previously obtained her consent to what he is about to do, introduces
the slave to her, and asks her if she will be married to him. She
replies that she will. She is accordingly wedded to the slave, in the
presence of witnesses ; and a dowry is given to her, to make the mar-
riage perfectly legal. The slave consummates the marriage; and
thus becomes the woman's legitimate husband. Immediately after,
or on the following morning, her former husband presents this slave
to her as her own property, and the moment that she accepts him,
her marriage with him becomes dissolved ; for it is unlawful for a
woman to be the wife of her own slave : though she may emancipate
a slave, and then marry him. As soon as her marriage is dissolved
by her accepting the gift of the slave, she may give back this slave to
her husband : but it seldom happens that the latter will allow a person
who has been a mustahall for him to remain in his house. The wife,
after this proceeding, may, as soon as she has again accomplished her
'eddeh, become reunited to her former husband, after having been
separated from him, by the necessity of her fulfilling two 'eddehs,
about half a year, or perhaps more.
That the facility of divorce has depraving effects upon both sexes
may be easily imagined. There are many men in this country who,
in the course of ten years, have married as many as twenty, thirty, or
more wives ; and women not far advanced in age who have been wives
to a dozen or more men successively. I have heard of men who have
been in the habit of marrying a new wife almost every month. A
person may do this although possessed of very little property : he may
choose, from among the females of the lower orders in the streets of
Cairo, a handsome young widow or divorced woman who will consent
to become his wife for a dowry of about ten shillings ; and when he
divorces her, he need not give her more than double that sum to
maintain her during her ensuing 'eddeh. It is but just, however, to
add, that such conduct is generally regarded as very disgraceful ; and
182 CHAPTER VI.
that few parents in the middle or higher classes will give a daughter
in marriage to a man who has divorced many wives.
Polygamy, which is also attended with very injurious effects upon
the morals of the husband and the wives, and only to be defended
^because it serves to prevent a greater immorality than it occasions, is
more rare among the higher and middle classes than it is among the
lower orders ; and it is not very common among the latter. A poor
man may indulge himself with two or more wives, each of whom may
be able, by some art or occupation, nearly to provide her own subsist-
ence; but most persons of the middle and higher orders are deterred
from doing so by the consideration of the expense and discomfort
which they would incur. A man having a wife who has the misfor-
tune to be barren, and being too much attached to her to divorce her,
is sometimes induced to take a second wife, merely in the hope of
obtaining offspring;- and from the same motive, he may take a third,
and a fourth; but fickle passion is the most evident and commpn
motive both to polygamy and repeated divorces. They are compara-
tively very few who gratify this passion by the former practice. I
believe that not more than one husband among twenty has two
wives.
When there are two or more wives belonging to one man, the first
(that is, the one first married,) generally enjoys the highest rank ; and
is called " the great lady." l Hence it often happens that, when a
man who has already one wife wishes to marry another girl or woman,
the father of the latter, or the female herself who is sought in mar-
riage, will not consent to the union unless the first wife be previously
divorced. The women, of course, do not approve of a man's marry-
ing more than one wife. Most men of wealth, or of moderate circum-
stances, and even many men of the lower orders, if they have two or
more wives, have, for each, a separate house. The wife has, or can
oblige her husband to give her, a particular description of lodging, 2
which is either a separate house, or a suite of apartments (consisting
of a room in which to sleep and pass the day, a kitchen, and a latrina,)
that are, or may be made, separate and shut out from any other
apartments in the same house. A fellow-wife is called " durrah." 3
The quarrels of durrahs are often talked of: for it may be naturally
inferred, that, when two wives share the affection and attentions of
1 " Es-siit el-kebeereh." durrah," with a soft d,) for darrah }" originally,
Called " meskin shar'ee." perhaps, by way of a puii; as "durrah" is a
3 Commonly thus pronounced (or rather common name for a parart.
THE HAREEM. 183
the same man, they are not always on terms of amity with each other;
and the same is generally the case with a wife and a concubine-slave
living in the same house, and in similar circumstances. 1 If the chief
lady he barren, and an inferior (either wife or slave) bear a child to
her husband or master, it commonly results that the latter woman
becomes a favourite of the man, and that the chief wife or mistress is
" despised in her eyes," as Abraham's wife was in the eyes of Hagar
on the same account, 2 It therefore not very unfrequently happens
that the first wife loses her rank and privileges ; another becomes the
chief lady, and, being the favourite of her husband, is treated by her
rival or rivals, and by all the members and visiters of the hareem,
with the same degree of outward respect which the first wife pre-
viously enjoyed : but sometimes the poisoned cup is employed to
remove her. A preference given to a second wife is often the cause
of the first's being registered as " ndshizeh/' 3 either on her husband's
or her own application at the Mahkemeh. Yet many instances are
known of neglected wives behaving with exemplary and unfeigned
submission to the husband, in such cases, and with amiable good
nature towards the favourite. 4
Some wives have female slaves who are their own property, gene-
rally purchased for them, or presented to them, before marriage.
These cannot be the husband's concubines without their mistress's
permission, which is sometimes granted (as it was in the case of
Hagar, Sarah's bondwoman) ; but very seldom. Often, the wife will
not even allow her female slave or slaves to appear unveiled in the
presence of her husband. Should such a slave, without the permis-
sion of her mistress, become the concubine of the husband, and bear
him a child, the child is a slave, unless, prior to its birth, the mother
be sold, or presented, to the father.
The white female slaves are mostly in the possession of wealthy
Turks. The concubine-slaves 5 in the houses of Egyptians of the
higher and middle classes are, generally, what are termed " Haba-
sheeyehs," that is, Abyssinians, of a deep brown or bronze complexion.
i The law enjoins a husband who has two or cases, the lasting favourite is not the most
more wives, to be strictly impartial to them in handsome. The love of a Muslim, therefore, is
every respect; but compliance with its dictates not always merely sensual; nor does the relative
in this matter is rare. condition and comfort of his wife, or of each of
* See Genesis, xvi. 4. his wives, invariably depend so much on his
3 This has been explained in the 3rd chapter, caprice, or her own personal charms, as on her
page 100. general conduct and disposition.
* In general, the most beautiful of a man's 5 A Muslim cannot take as a concubine a slave
wives or slaves is, of course, for a time, his who is an idolatress.
greatest favourite j but in many (if not most)
184 CHAPTER VL
In their features, as well as their complexions, they appear to be an
intermediate race between the negroes and white people: but the
difference between them and either of the above-mentioned races is
considerable. They themselves, however, think that they differ so
little from the white people, that they cannot be persuaded to act as
servants, with due obedience, to their master's wives ; and the black
(or negro) slave-girl feels exactly in the same manner towards the
Abyssinian, but is perfectly willing to serve the white ladies. I
should here mention, that the slaves who are termed "Abyssinians"
are, with few exceptions, not from the country properly called Abys^
sinia, but from the neighbouring territories of the Gallas. Most of
them are handsome. The average price of one of these girls is from
ten to fifteen pounds sterling, if moderately handsome; but this is
only about half the sum that used to be given for one a few years ago.
They are much esteemed by the voluptuaries of Egypt ; but are of
delicate constitution : many of them die, in this country, of consump-
tion. The price of a white slave-girl is usually from treble to tenfold
that of an Abyssinian ; and the price of a black girl, about half or
two-thirds, or considerably more if well instructed in the art of
cookery. The black slaves are generally employed as menials. 1
Almost all of the slaves become converts to the faith of El-Islarn ;
but, in general, they are little instructed in the rites of their new
religion ; and still less in its doctrines. Most of the white female
slaves who were in Egypt during my first visit to this country were
Greeks; vast numbers of that unfortunate people having been made
prisoners by the Turkish and Egyptian army under Ibr&heem Basha,
and many of them, males and females, including even infants scarcely
able to walk, sent to Egypt to be sold. Latterly, from the impoverish-
ment of the higher classes in this country, the demand for' white
slaves has been small. A few, some of whom undergo a kind of
preparatory education (being instructed in music or other accomplish-
ments, at Constantinople), are brought from Circassia and Georgia.
The white slaves, being often the only female companions, and some-
times the wives, of the Turkish grandees, and being generally pre-
ferred by them before the free ladies of Egypt, hold a higher rank
than the latter in common opinion. They are richly dressed, presented
with valuable ornaments, indulged, frequently, with almost every luxury
The white female slave is called "Giriyeh Bey4a } " the Abyssinian, "Gdriyeh Habasheeyeh :"
and the black, " Giriyeh S6da."
THE #ABEEM. 185
that can be procured, and, when it is not their lot to wait upon dthers,
may, in some cases, be happy : as lately has been proved, since the
termination of the war in Greece, by many females of that country,
captives in Egyptian hareems, refusing their offered liberty, which all
of these cannot Jbe supposed to have done from ignorance of the state
of their parents and other relations, or the fear of exposing themselves
to poverty; though not a few of them may probably have been
induced to remain in bondage by a sense of the religious and moral
degradation to which they had been forcibly subjected, and by their
having borne children* to their masters. But, if some of them are
undoubtedly happy, at least for a time, their number is comparatively
small : most are fated to wait upon more favoured fellow-prisoners, or
upon Turkish ladies, or to receive the unwelcome caresses of a wealthy
dotard, or of a man who has impaired his body and mind by excesses
of every kind \ and, when their master or mistress becomes tired of
them, or dies, are sold again (if they have not borne children), or
emancipated, and married to some person in humble life, who can
afford them but few of the comforts to which they have been accus-
tomed. The female slaves in the houses of persons of the middle
classes in Egypt are generally more comfortably circumstanced than
those in the hareems of the wealthy : if concubines, they are, in most
cases, without rivals to disturb their peace; and if menials, their
service is light, and they are under less restraint. Often, indeed, if
mutual attachment subsist between her and her master, the situation
of a concubine-slave is more fortunate than that of a wife : for the
latter may be cast off by her husband in a moment of anger, by an
irrevocable sentence of divorce, and reduced to a state of poverty;
whereas a man very seldom dismisses a female slave without provid-
ing for her in such a manner that, if she have not been used to
luxuries, she suffers but little, if at all, by the change : this he gene-
rally does by emancipating her, giving her a dowry, and marrying her
to some person of honest reputation ; or by presenting her to a friend.
I have already mentioned, that a master cannot sell nor give away a
slave who has borne him a child, if he acknowledge it to be his own ;
and that she is entitled to her freedom on his death. It often happens
that such a slave, immediately after the birth of her child, is emanci-
pated, and becomes her master's wife : when she has become free, she
can no longer lawfully supply the place of a wife unless he marry her.
Many persons consider it disgraceful even to sell a female slave who
has been long in their service. Most of the Abyssinian and black
186 CHAPTER VI.
slave-girls are abominably corrupted by the Gell&bs, or slave-traders,
of Upper Egypt and Nubia, by whom they are brought from their
native countries : there are very few of the age of eight or nine years
who have not suffered brutal violence; and so severely do these
children, particularly the Abyssinians, and boys as well as girls, feel
the treatment which they endure from the Gellabs, that many instances
occur of their drowning themselves during the voyage down the Nile. 1
The female slaves of every class are somewhat dearer than the males
of the same age. Those who have not had the small-pox are usually
sold for less than the others. Three days' trial is generally allowed
to the purchaser ; during which time, the girl remains in his, or some
friend's, hareem ; and the women make their report to him. Snoring,
grinding the teeth, or talking during sleep, are commonly considered
sufficient reasons for returning her to the dealer. The dresses of the
female slaves are similar to those of the Egyptian women.
The female servants, who are Egyptian girls or women, are those,
to whom the lowest occupations are allotted, They generally veil their
faces in the presence of their masters, with the head-veil ; drawing a
part of this before the face, so that they leave only one eye and one
hand at liberty to see and perform what they have to do. When a
male visiter is received by the master of a house in an apartment of
the hareem (the females of the family having been sent into another
apartment on the occasion), he is usually, or often, waited upon by a
female servant, who is always veiled.
Such are the relative conditions of the various classes in the
hareem. A short account of their usual habits and employments
must be added.
The wives, as well as the female slaves, are not only often debarred
from the privilege of eating with the master of the family, but also
required to wait upon him when he dines or sups, or even takes his
pipe and coffee, in the hareem. They frequently serve him as menials ;
fill and light his pipe, make coffee for him, and prepare his food, or,
at least, certain dainty dishes ; and, if I might judge from my own
experience, I should say that most of them are excellent cooks; for,
when a dish has been recommended to me because made by the wife
of my host, I have generally found it especially good. The wives of
men of the higher and middle classes make a great study of pleasing
and fascinating their husbands by unremitted attentions, and by
1 The Gellabs generally eouvey their slaves partly over the desert and partly down the river.
THE IIAREEM. 187
various arts. Their coquetry is exhibited, even in their ordinary
gait, when they go abroad, by a peculiar twisting of the body, 1 In
the presence of the husband, they are usually under more or less
restraint; and hence they are better pleased when his visits, during
the day, are not very frequent or Jong : in his absence, they often
indulge in noisy merriment.
The diet of the women is similar to that of the men, but more
frugal ; and their manner of eating is the same. Many of them are
allowed to enjoy the luxury of smoking; for this habit is not con-
sidered unbecoming in a female, however high her rank; the odour of
the finer kinds of the tobacco used in Egypt being very delicate.
Their pipes are generally more slender than those of the men, and
more ornamented ; and the mouth-piece is sometimes partly composed
of coral, in the place of amber. They generally make use of per-
fumes, such as musk, civet, &c. ; and often, also, of cosmetics, and
particularly of several preparations which they eat or drink with the
view of acquiring what they esteem a proper degree of plumpness : 2
one of these preparations is extremely disgusting ; being chiefly com-
posed of mashed beetles. Many of them also have a habit of chewing
frankincense, 8 and labdanuni, 4 which impart a perfume to the breath.
The habit of frequent ablutions renders them cleanly in person. They
spend but little time in the operations of the toilet ; and, after having
dressed themselves in the morning, seldom change their clothes during
the day. Their hair is generally braided in the bath ; and not undone
afterwards for several days.
The care of their children is the primary occupation of the ladies
of Egypt : they are also charged with the superintendence of domestic
affairs ; but, in most families, the husband alone attends to the house-
hold expenses. Their leisure hours are mostly spent in working with
the needle; particularly in embroidering handkerchiefs, head- veils,
&c., upon a frame called "menseg," with coloured silks and gold.
Many women, even in the houses of the wealthy, replenish their pri-
vate purses by ornamenting handkerchiefs and other things in this
manner, and employing a " dellaleh " (or female broker) to take them
to the market, or to other hareems, for sale. The visit of one hareem
i The motion here described they term "ghung." object of his affections as of slender figure and
* The Egyptians (unlike the Maghrabees, and small waist,
some other people of Africa and of the East,) do 3 " Liban."
not generally admire very fat women. In his * "Ladin."
love-songs, the Egyptian commonly describes the
188
CHAPTER VI.
The Menseg. This is of walnut-wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell. The
more common sort is of beech.
to another often occupies nearly a whole day. Eating, smoking,
drinking coffee and sherbet, gossiping, and displaying their finery,
are sufficient amusements to the company. On such occasions, the
master of the house is never allowed to enter the hareem, unless on
some particular and unavoidable business ; and in this case, he must
give notice of his approach, and let the visiters have sufficient time to
veil themselves, or to retire to an adjoining room. Being thus under
no fear of his sudden intrusion, and being naturally of a lively and an
unreserved disposition, they indulge in easy gaiety, and not unfre-
quently in youthful frolic. When their usual subjects of conversation
are exhausted, sometimes one of the party entertains the rest with
the recital of some wonderful or facetious tale. The Egyptian ladies
are very seldom instructed either in music or dancing ; but they take
great delight in the performances of professional musicians and public
dancers \ and often amuse themselves and their guests, in the absence
of better performers and better instruments, by beating the " dara*-
bukkeh " (which is a kind of drum) and the " t&r " (or tambourine 1 ) ;
though seldom in houses so situate that many passengers might hear
the sounds of festivity. On the occasion of any great rejoicing among
Descriptions and engravings of these instrument? will be given in another chapter.
THE IJAREEM. 189
the women (such as takes place on account of the birth of a son, or
the celebration of a circumcision, or a wedding, &c.), "'&Vmehs"
(professional female singers) are often introduced; but not for the
mere amusement of the women, on common occasions, in any respect-
able family ; for this would be considered indecorous. The " gh-
zeeyehs" (or public dancing-girls), who exhibit in the streets with
unveiled faces, are very seldom admitted into a hareem; but on such
occasions as those above mentioned, they often perform in front of
the house, or in the court ; though, by many persons, even this is not
deemed strictly proper. The " dlatees " (or male .musicians) are never
hired exclusively for the amusement of the women ; but chiefly for
that of the men : they always perform in the assembly of the latter :
their concert, however, is distinctly heard by the inmates of the
hareem. 1
When the women of the higher or middle classes go out to pay a
visit, or for any other purpose, they generally ride upon asses. They
sit astride, upon a very high and broad saddle, which is covered with
a small carpet ; and each is attended by a man on one or on each side.
Generally, all the women of a hareem ride out together ; one behind
another. Mounted as above described, they present a very singular
appearance. Being raised so high above the back of the "homdr 2
*&lee" (or the "high ass" for so the animal which they ride, fur-
nished with the high saddle, is commonly called 3 ), they seem veiy in-
securely seated ; but I believe this is not really the case : the ass is
well girthed, and sure-footed ; and proceeds with a slow, ambling
pace, and very easy motion. The ladies of the highest rank, as well
as those of the middle classes, ride asses thus equipped : they are
very seldom seen upon mules or horses. The asses are generally
hired. When a lady cannot procure a homdr '&lee, she rides one of
the asses equipped for the use of the men ; but has a " segg&deh " (or
prayer-carpet) placed over its saddle; and the inferior members of
the hareem, and females of the middle orders, often do the same.
Ladies never walk abroad, unless they have to go but a very short
distance. They have a slow and shuffling gait, owing to the diffi-
culty of retaining the slippers upon their feet ; and, in walking, they
generally hold the front edges of the liabarah in the manner repre-
sented in the engraving in page 46. Whether walking or riding,
i The performances of the alatees, 'aTmehs, * Thus commonly pronounced, for "fyemar."
and ghazeeyehs, will be described in a later 3 It is also called "Ijomar mughatfcee" (covered
chapter. ass).
THE IJAREEM. 191
they are regarded with much respect in public : no well-bred man
stares at them ; but rather directs his eyes another way. They are
never seen abroad at night, if not compelled to go out or return at
that time by some pressing and extraordinary necessity : it is their
usual rule to return from paying a visit before sunset. The ladies of
the higher orders never go to a shop, but send for whatever they want ;
and there are numerous dellalehs who have access to the hareems, and
bring all kinds of ornaments, articles of female apparel, &c., for sale.
Nor do these ladies, in general, visit the public bath, unless invited
to accompany thither some of their friends ; for most of them have
baths in their own houses. 1
1 Since the third edition of this work issued Englishwoman in Egypt"), an account of female
from the press, my sister (Mrs. Poole) has re- society in that city, chiefly from observations
sided, with her two sons and my wife and made in the hareems of Turks, which has been
myself, more than seven years in Cairo, and has too well received to need my recommendation,
published, in a series of letters (entitled " The
CHAPTER VII.
DOMESTIC LIFE continued.
THE domestic life of the lower orders will be the subject of the
present chapter. In most respects it is so simple, that, in comparison
with the life of the middle and higher classes, of which we have just
been taking a view, it offers but little to our notice.
The lower orders in Egypt, with the exception of a very small
proportion, chiefly residing in the large towns, consist of Fellaheen
(or Agriculturists). Most of those in the great towns, and a few in
the smaller towns and some of the villages, are petty tradesmen or
artificers, or obtain their livelihood as servants, or by various labours.
In all cases, their earnings are very small ; barely sufficient, in general,
and sometimes insufficient, to supply them and their families with the
cheapest necessaries of life.
Their food chiefly consists of bread (made of millet or of maize),
milk, new cheese, eggs, small salted fish, 1 cucumbers and melons and
gourds of a great variety of kinds, onions and leeks, 2 beans, chick-
peas, lupins, the fruit of the black egg-plant, lentils, &c., dates (both
fresh and dried), and pickles. Most of the vegetables they eat in a
crude state. When the maize (or Indian corn) is nearly ripe, many
ears of it are plucked, and toasted or baked, and eaten thus by the
peasants. Rice is too dear to be an article of common food for the
fellaheen ; and flesh-meat they very seldom taste. There is one
luxury, however, which most of them enjoy; and that is, smoking
the cheap tobacco of their country, merely dried, and broken up. It is
of a pale, greenish colour, when dried, and of a mild flavour. Though
all the articles of food mentioned above are extremely cheap, there are
many poor persons who often have nothing with which to season their
coarse bread but the mixture called " dukkah," described in a former
chapter. 3 It is surprising to observe how simple and pqor is the diet
1 Called " feseekh." See Numbers, xi. 5. 3 Page 134.
THE LOWER ORDERS, 193
of the Egyptian peasantry, and yet how robust and healthy most of
them are, and how severe is the labour which they can undergo !
The women of the lower orders seldom pass a life of inactivity.
Some of them are even condemned to greater drudgery than the men.
Their chief occupations are the preparing of the husband's food,
fetching water (which they carry in a large vessel on the head), spin-
ning cotton, linen, or woollen yarn, and making the fuel called
" gelleh," which is composed of the dung of cattle, kneaded with
chopped straw, and formed into round flat cakes : these they stick
upon the walls or roofs of their houses, or upon the ground, to dry
in the sun; and then use for heating their ovens, and for other pur-
poses. They are in a state of much greater subjection to their lius-
bands than is the case among the superior classes. Not always is a
poor woman allowed to eat with her husband. When she goes out
with him, she generally walks behind him ; and if there be anything
for either of them to carry, it is usually borne by the wife ; unless it
be merely a pipe or a stick. Some women, in the towns, keep shops,
and sell bread, vegetables, &c. ; and thus contribute as much as their
husbands, or even more than the latter, to the support of their fami-
lies. When a poor Egyptian is desirous of marrying, the chief object
of his consideration is the dowry, which is usually from about twenty
"riyals" '(or nine shillings) to four times that amount if consisting
only of money, and rather less if (as is the case throughout a great
part of Egypt) it comprise certain articles of clothing. If he can
afford to give the dowry, he seldom hesitates to marry; for a little
additional exertion will enable him to support a wife and two or three
children. At the age of five or six years, the children become of use
to tend the flocks and herds ; and at a more advanced age, until they
marry, they assist their fathers in the operations of agriculture. The
poor in Egypt have often to depend entirely upon their sons for
support in their old age ; but many parents are deprived of these aids,
and consequently reduced to beggary, or almost to starvation. A short
time ago, Mohammad 'Alee, during his voyage from Alexandria to this
city (Cairo), happening to land at a village on the bank of the Nile,
a poor man of the place ran up to him, and grasped his sleeve so
tightly, that the surrounding attendants could not make him quit his
hold : he complained, that, although he had been once in very com-
fortable circumstances, he had been reduced to utter destitution bv
having his sons taken from him in his old age as recruits for the
194 CHAPTER VII.
army. The Basha (who generally paid attention to personal applica-
tions) relieved him ; but it was by ordering that the richest man in
the village should give him a cow.
A young family, however, is sometimes an insupportable burden
to poor parents. Hence, it is not a very rare occurrence, in Egypt,
for children to be publicly carried abottt for sale, by their mothers or
by women employed by the fathers: but this very seldom happens
except in cases of great distress. When a mother dies, leaving one
or more children unweaned, and the father and other surviving rela-
tions are so poor as not to be able to procure a nurse, this singular
mode of disposing of the child or children is often resorted to; or
sometimes an infant is laid at the door of a mosque, generally when
the congregation is assembled to perform the noon-prayers of Friday ;
and in this case it usually happens that some member of the congrega-
tion, on coming out of the mosque, and seeing the poor foundling, is
moved with pity, and takes it home to rear in his family, not as a
slave, but as an adopted child; or, if not, it is taken under the care of
some person until an adoptive father or mother be found for it. A
short time ago, a woman offered for sale, to the mistress of a family
with whom a friend of mine is acquainted in this city, a child a few
days old, which she professed to have found at the door of a mosque.
The lady said that she would take the child, to rear it for the sake of
God, and in the hope ,that her own child, an only one, might be spared
to her as a reward for her charity ; and handed, to the woman who
brought the infant, ten piasters (then equivalent to a little more than
two shillings) : but the offered remuneration was rejected. This shews
that infants are sometimes made mere objects of traffic; and some
persons who purchase them may make them their slaves, and sell them
again. I have been informed by a slave-dealer (and his assertion has
been confirmed to me by other persons) that young Egyptian girls are
sometimes sold as slaves from other countries, either by a parent or by
some other relation. The slave-dealer here alluded to said that several
such girls had been committed to him for sale, and by their own con-
sent : they were taught to expect rich dresses, and great luxuries ; and
were instructed to say that they had been brought from their own
country when only three or four years of age, and that they con-
sequently were ignorant of their native language, and could speak only
Arabic.
It often happens, too, that a fellah, in a state of great poverty, is
THE LOWER ORDERS. 195
induced, by the offer of a sum of money, to place his son in a situa-
tion far worse than that of ordinary slavery. When a certain number
of recruits are required from a village, the Sheykh of the village often
adopts the plan that gives him the least trouble to obtain them, which
is, to take the sons of those persons who are possessed of most pro-
perty, "in such circumstanced, a father, rather than part with his son,
generally offers, to one of his poorer fellow-villagers, a sum equivalent
to one or two pounds sterling, to procure a son of the latter as a
substitute for his own; and usually succeeds; though the love of
offspring prevails among the Egyptians as much as filial piety, and
most parents have a great horror of parting with their children, par-
ticularly if taken for recruits, as is proved by the means to whicl? they
have recourse for the prevention of such an occurrence. In the time
of my second visit to Egypt, there was seldom to be found, in any of
the villages, an able-bodied youth or young man who had not had
one or more of his teeth broken out (that he might not be able to bite
a cartridge), or a finger cut off, or an eye pulled out or blinded, to
prevent his being taken for a recruit. Old women and others made a
regular trade of going about from village to village, to perform these
operations upon the boys ; and the parents themselves were sometimes
the operators. But, from what has been said before, it appears that
it was not always affection alone that prompted the parents to have
recourse to such expedients to prevent their being deprived of their
children.
The Felldheen of Egypt ,cannot be justly represented in a very
favourable light with regard to their domestic and social condition and
manners. In the worst points of view, they resemble their Bedawee
ancestors, without possessing many of the virtues of the inhabitants of
the desert, unless in an inferior degree ; and the customs which they
have inherited from their forefathers often have a very baneful effect
upon their domestic state. It has before been mentioned that they
are descended from various Arab tribes who have settled in Egypt at
different periods, intermixed with Copts; and that the distinction of
tribes is still preserved by the inhabitants of the villages through-
out this country. In the course of years, the descendants of each tribe
of settlers have become divided into numerous branches, and these
minor tribes have distinct appellations, which have also often been
given to the village or villages, or district, which they inhabit. Those
who have been longest established in Egypt have retained less of
196 CHAPTER VII.
Bedawee manners, and have more infringed the purity of their race by
intermarriages with Copt proselytes to the Muslim faith, or with the
descendants of such persons : hence, they are often despised by the
tribes more lately settled in this country, who frequently, in contempt,
term the former Fellaheen," while they arrogate to themselves the
appellation of "Arabs" or "Bedawees." The latter, whenever they
please, take the daughters of the former in marriage, but will not give
their own daughters in return ; and if one of them be killed by a
person of the inferior tribe, they kill two, three, or even four, in blood-
revenge. The prevalence of the barbarous Bedawee law of blood-
revenge among the inhabitants of the villages of Egypt has been
mentioned in a former chapter : the homicide, or any person descended
from him, or from his great-grandfather's father, is killed by any of
such relations of the person whom he has slain ; and when the homi-
cide happens to be of one tribe, and the person killed of another, often
a petty war breaks forth between these two tribes, and is sometimes
continued, or occasionally renewed, during a period of several years.
The same is also frequently the result of a trifling injury committed
by a member of one tribe upon a person of another. In many in-
stances, the blood-revenge is taken a century or more after the com-
mission of the act which has occasioned it ; when the feud, for that
time, has lain dormant, and perhaps is remembered by scarcely more
than one individual, Two tribes in Lower Egypt, which are called
" Saad " and " llar&m," are most notorious for these petty wars and
feuds ; l and hence their names are commonly applied to any two persons
or parties at enmity with each other. It is astonishing that, in the
present day, such acts (which, if committed in a town or city in Egypt,
would be punished by the death of, perhaps, more than one of the
persons concerned,) should be allowed. Some other particulars re-
specting blood-revenge, and its consequences, have been stated in the
chapter above alluded to. The avenging of blood is allowed by the
Kur-n; but moderation and justice are enjoined in its execution;
and the petty wars which it so often occasions in the present age. are
in opposition to a precept of the Prophet, who said, " If two Muslims
contend with their swords, the slayer and the slain will be in the fire
of Hell]."
The Fellaheen of Egypt resemble the Bedawees in other respects.
Like tho " Keys " and " Yemen " of Syria.
THE LOWER ORDERS. 197
When a FeMhah is found to have been unfaithful to her husband, in
general he or her brother throws her into the Nile, with a stone tied
to her neck ; or cuts her in pieces, and then throws her remains into
the river. In most instances, also, a father or brother punishes in the
same manner an unmarried daughter or sister who has been guilty of
incontinence. These relations are considered as more disgraced than
the husband by the crime of the woman; and are -often despised if
they do not thus punish her.
( 198 )
CHAPTER VIII.
COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY.
THE respect in which trade is held by the Muslim greatly tends to
enlarge the circle of his acquaintance with persons of different ranks ;
and freedom of intercourse with his fellow-men is further and very
greatly promoted by the law of the separation of the sexes, as it enables
him to associate with others, regardless of difference of wealth or
station, without the risk of occasioning unequal matrimonial connec-
tions. The women, like the men, enjoy extensive intercourse with
persons of their own sex.
The Muslims are extremely formal and regular in their social
manners ; though generally very easy in their demeanour, and free in
their conversation. Several of their most common usages are founded
upon precepts of their religion, and distinguish them in society from
all other people. Among these is their custom of greeting each other
with the salutation of " Peace be on you :" l to which the proper and
general reply is, " On you be peace, and the mercy of God, and his
blessings." 8 This salutation is never to be addressed by a Muslim to
a person whom he knows to be of another religion; 3 nor vice versa. 4
The giving it, by one Muslim to another, is a duty ; but one that may
be omitted without sin : the returning it is absolutely obligatory : the
former is a "sunneh" ordinance; and the latter, "fard." Should a
Muslim, however, thus salute, by mistake, a person not of the same
faith, the latter should not return it ; and the former, on discovering;
his mistake, generally revokes his salutation : so too he sometimes
i "Ea-selamu 'aleykum," or "Selamun 'aley- ropean traveller, not disguised by Turkish dress,
kum," or, vulgarly, " Es-selam 'aleykum." often fancies that he is greeted with this saluta-
8 " Aleykuratt-s-selamu wa-rahmatu-llahi wa- tion, when it is really intended for his Muslim
barakatuh," or merely " 'Aleykum es-,selam " (On attendant.
you be peace) ; but the longer salutation is more * A Muslim, however, when he receives this
commonly used, in accordance with an injunction salutation from a person of another religion,
in the Kur-an, h. iv. v. 88. sometimes replies, " And on you" (Wa-'aleykum).
8 Very few Muslims in Egypt do so. A Eu-
COMMON USAGES OP SOCIETY. 199
does if a Muslim refuse to return his salutation ; usually saying,
" Peace be on us, and on [all] the righteous worshippers of God."
The chief rules respecting salutation, as dictated by the Prophet,
and generally observed by modern Muslims, are as follow: The
person riding should first salute him who is on foot; and he who
passes by, the person or persons who are sitting down or standing
still; and a small party, or one of such a party, should give the
salutation to a large party ; and the young, to the aged. 1 As it is
sufficient for one of a party to give, so is it also for one only to return,
the salutation. It is required, too, that a Muslim, when he enters a
house, should salute the people of that house ; and that he should do
the same when he leaves it. He should always salute first, and then
talk. But, to the above rules, there are some exceptions. For
instance, in a crowded city, it is not necessary (indeed it is hardly
possible) to salute many of those whom one may pass; nor on a road
where one meets numerous passengers. Yet it is usual for a wealthy
or well-dressed person, or a venerable sheykh, or any person of dis-
tinction, to salute another who appears to be a man of rank, wealth,
or learning, even in a crowded street. Among polite people, it is
customary for him who gives or returns the salutation to place his
right hand upon his breast at the same time ; or to touch his lips,
and then his forehead, or turban, with the same hand. This action
is called " teymeeneh." The latter mode of teymeeneh, which is the
more respectful, is often performed to a person of superior rank, not
only at first, with the selam (or salutation of " Peace be on you "\
but also frequently during a conversation, and in the latter case with-
out the selam.
A person of the lower orders, on approaching a superior, particu-
larly if the latter be a Turk, does not always give the seiam, but only
performs this teymeeneh ; and he shews his respect to a man of high
rank by bending down his hand to the ground, and then putting it
to his lips and forehead, without pronouncing the selam. It is a
common custom, x also, for a man to kiss the hand of a superior
(generally on the back only, but sometimes on the back and front),
and then to put it to his forehead, in order to pay him particular
respect : but in most cases the latter does not allow this ; and only
touches the hand that is extended towards his : the other person,
then, merely puts his own hand to his lips and forehead. To testify
1 Herodotus speaks of the respect paid iu Egypt to the aged, and of the polite salutations of the
Egyptians to each other. (Lib. ii, cap. 80.)
200 CHAPTER VIII.
abject submission, in craving pardon for an offence, or interceding
for another, person, or begging any favour of a superior, not unfre-
quently the feet are kissed instead of the hand. The son kisses the
hand of the father; the wife, that of her husband; and the slave,
^nd often the free servant, that of the master. The slaves and ser-
vants of a grandee kiss their lord's sleeve, or the skirt of his clothing.
When particular friends salute each other, they join their right
hands, and then each kisses his own hand, or puts it to his lips and
forehead, or raises it to his forehead only ; or merely places it on his
breast, without kissing it : if after a long absence, and on some other
occasions, they embrace each other; each falling upon the other's
neck, a,nd kissing him on the right side of the face or neck, and then
on the left. Another mode of salutation is very commonly practised
among the lower orders, when two friends or acquaintances meet after
a journey : joining their right hands, each of them compliments the
other on his safety, and expresses his wishes for his welfare, by
repeating, alternately, many times, the words " seMmat" and "teiyi-
been." 1 In commencing this ceremony, which is often continued for
nearly a minute before they proceed to make any particular inquiries,
they join their hands in the same manner as is usually practised by
us ; and at each alternation of the two expressions above mentioned,
they change the position of the hands : in repeating x the second word,
each of the two persons turns his fingers over the thumb of the other ;
and in repeating the first word again, the former position is resumed.
In polite society, various other formal salutations and compliments
follow the selam. To most of these there are particular replies ; or
two or more different forms of reply may be used in some cases ; but
to return any that custom has not prescribed would be considered as
a proof of ignorance or vulgarity. When a person asks his friend,
" How is your health ?" 2 the latter replies, " Praise be to God :" 3 and
it is only by the tone of voice in which he makes this answer, that
the inquirer can infer whether he be well or ill. When one greets
the other with " Teiyibeen," the usual reply is, " God bless thee," 4
or " God save thee."* A friend or an acquaintance, on meeting another
whom he has not seen for several days, or for a longer period, gene-
rally says, after the seldm, " Thou hast made us desolate [by thy
i Meaning, " I congratulate you on your safety," 8 " El-hamdu li-llah."
and "I hope you are well." * " Allah yebarik (for "yubarik ") feek."
* " Eysh ^1'kum." & Allah y esellimak " (for " y usellimak ") ,
COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY. 201
absence from us] ;" 1 and is usually answered, " May God not
make [us] desolate by thy absence." 2 The ordinary set compliments
in use in Egyptian society are so numerous,, that a dozen pages of
this work would not suffice for the mention of those which may be
heard almost every day.
When a person goes to the house of another, to pay a visit, or for'
any other purpose, he never enters unawares; for this is expressly
forbidden by the Kur-an : 8 and particularly if he have to ascend to an
upper apartment ; in which case he should call out for permission, or
announce his approach, as he goes upstairs, in the manner which I
have had occasion to describe in a former chapter. 4 Should he find
no person below, he generally claps his hands, at the door, or in the
court ; and waits for a* servant to come down to him ; or for permission
to be given him to seat himself in a lower apartment, or to ascend to
an upper room. On entering the room in which the master of the
house is seated, he gives the selam. The master returns the saluta-
tion ; and welcomes the visiter with courtcousness and affability. To
his superiors, 5 and generally to his equals, he rises. Persons more or
less above him in rank he proceeds to meet in the court, or between
the court and the room, or at the entrance of the room, or in. the
middle of the room, or a step from the place where he was sitting :
but often, to equals, he merely makes a slight motion, as if about to
rise ; and to most inferiors, he remains undisturbed. To his superiors,
and often to his equals, he yields the most honourable place, which is
a corner of the deew&n : it is that corner which is to the right of n,
person facing the upper end of the room. This end of the room is
called the "sadr ;" and the whole of the scat which extends along it
is more honourable than those which extend along the sides ; each of
which is called " gemb." Visiters" inferior in rank to the master of
the house never seat themselves at the upper end, unless invited to do
so by him ; and when so invited, they often decline the offered honour.
His equals sit at their ease, cross-legged, or with one knee raised; and
recline against the cushions : his inferiors (first, at least,) often sit upon
their heels, or take their place upon the edge of the deewan ; or, if
very much beneath him in grade, seat themselves upon the mat or
carpet. In strict etiquette, the visiter should not, at first, suffer his
hands to appear, when entering the room, or when seated ; but should
1 " Owhashten'e." * Chapter VI. p. 178.
2 " Allah 1& yoohesh minnak." 5 That is, to those who are above him cither in
' Ch. xxiv. v. 27. office, wealth, or religious or literary reputation.
2 D
202 CHAPTER VIII.
let the sleeves fall over them ; and when he has taken his place on
the deewdn, he should not stretch out his legs, nor even allow his feet
to be seen : but these rules are not often attended to, except in the
houses of the great. Various formal compliments and salutations are
given and returned after the selam ; and some of them, particularly
the expressions of "teiyibeen" and "eysh haPkurn/' are repeated
several times during the same interview.
Sometimes the visiter' s own servant attends him with his pipe : the
former takes his tobacco-purse out of his bosom, and gives it to the
servant, who folds it up and returns it after having filled the pipe, or
after the termination of the visit : otherwise, a servant of the host
brings a pipe for the visit er, and one for his master ; and next, a cup
of coffee is presented to each; 1 for "tobacco without coffee," say the
Arabs, "is like meat without salt." On receiving the pipe and the
coffee, the visiter salutes the master of the house with the " teymeeneh,"
which the latter returns ; and the same is done on returning the cup .
to the servant. The master of the house also salutes his guest in the
same manner, if the latter be not much beneath him in rank, on re-
ceiving and returning his own cup of coffee. Servants often remain
in the room during the whole period of a visit, stationed at the lower
end, in a respectful attitude, with .their hands joined (the left within
the right), and held before the girdle. The usual mode of summoning
a servant or other attendant who is not present is by clapping the
hands, striking the palm of the left hand with the fingers of the right :
the windows being of open lattice-work, the sound is heard through-
out the house. The subjects of conversation are generally the news of
the day, the state of ,ti v ade, the prices of provisions, and sometimes
religion and science. * 'Facetious stories are often related ; and, very
frequently, persons in the best society tell tales, and quote proverbs, of
the most indecent nature. In good society, people seldom talk of
each other's hareems ; but intimate friends, and many persons who do
not strictly observe the rules of good breeding, very often do so, and
in a manner not always delicate. Genteel people inquire respecting
each other's " houses," to ascertain whether their wives and families
are well. Visits not unfrequently occupy several hours ; and some-
times (especially those of hareems), nearly a whole day. The pipes
are replenished, or replaced by others, as often as is necessary : for,
however long a visiter may stay, he generally continues smoking during
1 The visitor, if a superior, or not much inferior in rank to the master of the house, receives his pipe
and coffee before the latter.
COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY.
203
the whole time ; and sometimes coffee is brought again, or sherbet.
The manner in which the coffee and sherbet are served has been before
described. A person receives the same compliment after drinking a
glass of sherbet as after taking a draught of. water ; l and replies to it
in the same manner.
In the houses of the rich, it used to be a common custom to
sprinkle the guest, before he rose to take his leave, with rose-water or
orange-flower water; and to perfume him with the smoke of some
odoriferous substance ; but of late years, this practice has become un-
frequent. The scent-bottle, which is called " kuinkum," is of plain or
gilt silver, or fine brass, or china, or glass ; and has a cover pierced
with a small hole. The perfuming-vessel, or "mibkharah," 2 is
generally of one or the other of the metals above mentioned : the re-
ceptacle for the burning charcoal is lined, or half filled, with gypsum-
plaster ; and its cover is pierced with apertures for the emission of the
smoke. The mibkharah is used last : it is presented by a servant to
umfcum and Mibkharah. J?acfc it about eight inches high .
the visiter or master, who wafts the smoke towards his face, beard, &c.,
with his right hand. Sometimes it is opened, to emit the smoke more
freely. The substance most commonly used in the mibkharah is aloes-
wood, 8 or benzoin, 4 or cascarilla-bark. 5 The wood is moistened before
it is placed upon the burning coals. Ambergris 8 is also used for the
1 Mentioned in Chapter V., p. 140
8 Pronounced "mibkhar'ah."
> '"Ood."
* "Gdwce."
8 "tfishr 'ambar.'
" 'Ambar."
204 CHAPTER VTII.
same purpose ; but very rarely, and only in the houses of persons of
great wealth, as it is extremely costly. As soon as the visiter has
been perfumed, he takes his leave ; but he should not depart without
previously asking permission to do so, and then giving the sel&m,
which is returned to him, and paying other set compliments, to which
there are appropriate replies. If he is a person of much higher rank
than the master of the house, the latter not only rises, but also accom-
panies him to the top of the stairs, or to the door of the room, and
then commends him to the care of God.
It is usual for a person, after paying a visit of ceremony, and on
some other occasions, previously to his leaving the house, to give a
small present (two or three piasters, or more, according to circum-
stances,) to one, or to several, of the servants : and if his horse or
mule or ass is waiting for him at the door, or in the court, one of the
servants goes with him to adjust his dress when he mounts : this
officious person particularly expects a present. When money is thus,
given to a man's servants, it is considered incumbent upon their master
to do exactly the same when he returns the visit.
Friends very often send presents to each other, merely for the
sake of complying with common custom. When a person celebrates
any private festivity, he generally receives presents from most of his
friends ; and it is a universal rule that he should repay the donor by
a similar gift, or one of the same value, on a similar occasion. It is
common for the receiver of a present, on such an event, even to
express to the giver his hope that he may have to repay it on the
occasion of a like festivity. An acknowledgment accompanied by
such an allusion to the acquitment of the obligation imposed by the
gift, which would be offensive to a generous European, is, in this
country, esteemed polite. The present is generally wrapped in an
embroidered handkerchief, which is returned, with a trifling pecu-
niary gratification, to the bearer. Fruit, laid upon leaves, and sweet-
meats and other dainties, placed in a dish or on a tray, and covered
with a rich handkerchief or napkin, are common presents. Very
frequently, a present is given by a person to a superior with a view of
obtaining something more valuable in return. This is often done by
a servant to his master, and the gift is seldom refused, but often paid
for immediately in money, more than equivalent. It is generally
with the expectation above mentioned that an Arab gives a present to
a European. The custom of giving money to the servants of a friend,
after paying him a visit, is not so common now as it was a few years
COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY. 205
since ; but it is still observed by most persons on the occasion of a
visit of ceremony; and particularly on the two " 'eeds," or religious
festivals, and by the guests at private festivities. Other customs of a
similar nature, which are observed at these festivities, will be de-
scribed in a subsequent chapter. 1 To decline the acceptance of a
present generally gives offence ; and is considered as reflecting dis-
grace upon the person who has offered it.
There are many formal usages which are observed in Egypt, not
merely on the occasions of ceremonious visits, or in the company of
strangers, or at the casual meetings of friends, but also in the ordinary
intercourse of familiar acquaintance. When a man happens to sneeze,
he says, " Praise be to God." 2 Each person present (servants gene-
rally excepted) then says to him, " God have mercy upon you :" 3 to
which the former generally replies, " God guide us and guide you :" 4
or he returns the compliment in words of a similar purport. Should
he yawn, he puts the back of his left hand to his mouth, and then
says, " I seek refuge with God from Satan the accursed :" 5 but he is
not complimented on this act, as it is one which should rather be
avoided ; for it is believed that the devil is in the habit of leaping
into a gaping mouth. For a breach of good manners, it is more
common to ask the pardon of God than that of the present company,
by saying, " I beg pardon of God, the Great." 6 When a man has just
been shaved, or been to the bath, when he has just performed the
ablution preparatory to prayer, when he has been saying his prayers,
or doing any other meritorious act, when he has just risen from sleep,
when he has purchased or put on any new article of dress, and on
many other occasions, there are particular compliments to be paid to
him, and particular replies for him to make.
It is a rule with the Muslims to honour the right hand and foot
above the left : to use the right hand for all honourable purposes ;
and the left for actions which, though necessary, are unclean : to put
on and take off the right shoe before the left ; and to put the right
foot first over the threshold of a door.
The Egyptians are extremely courteous to each other, and have
a peculiar grace and dignity in their manner of salutation and
their general demeanour, combined with easiness of address, which
seem natural to them, being observable even in the peasants. The
1 In Chapter XXVII. * " Yahdeenfc wa-yahdeekum Allah."
* " El-fcamdu 11-llah." 5 " A'ooz bi-ll&h min esh-sheytan er-regeem."
s " Rafcemkum Allah." c " Astaghfir Allah el-'Azeem."
206 CHAPTER VIII.
middle and higher classes of townspeople pride themselves upon their
politeness and elegance of manners, and their wit, and fluency of
speech ; and with some justice : but they are not less licentious in their
conversation than their less accomplished fellow-countrymen. Affa-
bility is a general characteristic of the Egyptians of all classes. It is
common for strangers, even in a shop, after mutual salutation, to
enter into conversation with each other with as much freedom as if
they were old acquaintances, and for one who has a pipe to offer it to
another who has none; and it is not unusual, nor is it generally
considered unpolite, for persons in a first, casual meeting, to ask each
other's names, professions or trades, and places of abode. Lasting
acquaintances are often formed on such occasions. 1 In the middle
and higher ranks of Egyptian society, it is very seldom that a man is
heard to say anything offensive to the feelings of another in his com-
pany ; and the most profligate never venture to utter an expression
meant to cast ridicule upon sincere religion : most persons, however,
in every class, are otherwise more or less licentious in their conversa-
tion, and extremely fond of joking. They are generally very lively
and dramatic in their talk; but scarcely ever noisy in their mirth.
They seldom indulge in loud laughter; expressing their enjoyment
of anything ludicrous by a smile or an exclamation.
1 Acquaintances, and even strangers, often ad- paternal uncle," " Brother," " Mother," " Daugh-
dress each other as relations, by the terms ter," "Maternal aunt," "Daughter of my ma-
" Father," "Son," " Paternal uncle," "Son of my ternal aunt," " Sister," &c.
( 207 )
CHAPTER IX.
LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.
THE metropolis of Egypt maintains the comparative reputation by
which it has been distinguished for many centuries, of being the best
school of Arabic literature, and of Muslim theology and jurispru-
dence. Learning, indeed, has much declined among the Arabs
universally ; but least in Cairo : consequently, the fame of the
professors of this city still remains unrivalled ; and its great col-
legiate mosque, the Azhar, continues to attract innumerable students
from every quarter of the Muslim world.
The Arabic spoken by the middle and higher classes in Cairo
is generally inferior, in point of grammatical correctness and pro-
nunciation, to the dialects of the Bedawees of Arabia, and of the
inhabitants of the towns in their immediate vicinity ; but much to be
preferred to those of Syria ; and still more, to those of the Western
Arabs. The most remarkable peculiarities in the pronunciation of
the people of Egypt are the following : The fifth letter of the alpha-
bet is pronounced by the natives of Cairo, and throughout the greater
part of Egypt, as g in give ; while, in most parts of Arabia, and in
Syria and other countries, it receives the sound of j in joy : but it is
worthy of remark that, in a part of southern Arabia, where, it is said,
Arabic was first spoken, the former sound is given to this letter. 1 In
those parts of Egypt where this pronunciation of the fifth letter
prevails, the sound of "hemzeh" (which is produced by a sudden
emission of the voice after a total suppression) is given to the twenty-
first letter, except by the better instructed, who give to this letter its
true sound, which I represent by "k." In other parts of Egypt, the
pronunciation of the fifth letter is the same as that of j in joy, or
nearly so; and the twenty-first letter is pronounced as g in give.
1 It seems probable that the Arabs of Egypt ancestors in Asia. See l)e Sacy's Grammairc
have retained, in this case, a pronunciation which Arabe, 2nd ed. vol. i. pp. 17 and 18.
was common, if not almost universal, with their
208 CHAPTER IX.
By all the Egyptians, in common with most other modem peoples
who speak the Arabic language, the third and fourth letters of the
alphabet are generally pronounced alike, as our t ; and the eighth
and ninth, as our d : the fifteenth and seventeenth are also generally
pronounced alike, as a very hard d ; but sometimes as a hard z. Of
the peculiarities in the structure of the Egyptian dialect of Arabic,
the most remarkable are, the annexation of the letter " sheen " in
negative phrases, in the same manner as the word "pas" is used in
French; as " ma yerclash " for " ma yerda," " he will not consent ;"
" m& hoosh teiyib " (vulgarly, " mosh teiyib, ') for " ma huwa teiyib,"
" it is not good :" the placing the demonstrative pronoun after the
word to which it relates; as "el-beyt de," "this house:" and a
frequent unnecessary use of the diminutive form in adjectives; as
"sughciyir" for "saghecr," "small;" "kureiyib" for "kareeb,"
"near."
There is not so much difference between the literary and vulgar
dialects of Arabic as some European Orientalists have supposed : the
latter may be described as the ancient dialect simplified, principally
by the omission of final vowels, and by otherwise neglecting to dis-
tinguish the different cases of nouns and some of the persons of
verbs. 1 Nor is there so great a difference between the dialects of
Arabic spoken in different countries as some persons, who have not
held intercourse with the inhabitants of such countries, have imagined :
they resemble each other more than the dialects of some of the dif-
ferent counties in England. The Arabic language abounds with
synonyms ; and, of a number of words which are synonymous, one
is in common use in one country, and another elsewhere. Thus, the
Egyptian calls milk " leben " the Syrian calls it ">haleeb :" the word
" leben " is used in Syria to denote a particular preparation of sour
milk. Again, bread is called in Egypt " 'eysh ;" and in other Arab
countries, " khubz ;" and many examples of a similar kind might be
adduced. The pronunciation of Egypt has more softness than that of
Syria and most other countries in which Arabic is spoken.
The literature of the Arabs is very comprehensive; but the
number of their books is more remarkable than the variety. The
i The Arabs began to simplify their spoken lemiei, Arab, et Lat." vol. i. pp. 432 and 434.
language in the first century of the Flight, in Many other proofs might be mentioned j the fact
consequence of their spreading among foreigners, being notorious. The modern Arabic, by its re-
who could not generally acquire the difficult Ian- semblance to the Biblical Hebrew, 7 confirms the
guage which their conquerors had hitherto used. evidences of decay that the latter in itself cx-
For a proof of this, see " Abulfedte Annalcs Mas- hibits.
BOOKS, J5TC. 209
relative number of the books which treat of religion and jurispru-
dence may be stated to be about one-fourth : next in number are
works on grammar, rhetoric, and various branches of philology : the
third in the scale of proportion are those on history (chiefly that of
the Arab nation), and on geography : the fourth, poetical compositions.
Works on medicine, chymistry, the mathematics, algebra, and various
other sciences, &c., are comparatively very few.
There are, in Cairo, many large libraries; most of which are
attached to mosques, and consist, for the greater part, of works on
theology and jurisprudence, and philology : but these libraries arc
deplorably neglected, and their contents are rapidly perishing, in a
great measure from the dishonesty and carelessness of their keepers
and of those who make use of them. Several rich merchants, and
others, have also good libraries. The booksellers of Cairo are, I am
informed, only eight in number; l and their shops are but ill stocked.
"Whenever a valuable boo,k comes into the possession of one of these
persons, he goes found with it to his regular customers ; and is almost
sure of finding a purchaser. The leaves of the books are seldom sewed
together ; but they are usually enclosed in a cover bound with leather ;
and mostly have, also, an outer case 2 of pasteboard and leather. Five
sheets, or double leaves^ are commonly placed together, one within
another ; composing what is called a " karris." The leaves are thus
arranged, in small parcels, without being sewed, in order that one
book may be of use to a number of persons at the same time; each
taking a karras. The books are laid flat, one upon another; and the
name is written upon the front of the outer case, or upon the edge of
the leaves. The paper is thick and glazed : it is mostly imported from
Venice, and glazed in Egypt. The ink is very thick and gummy.
Reeds are used for pens ; and they suit the Arabic character much
better. The Arab, in writing, places the paper upon his knee, or
upon the palm of his left hand, or upon what is called a "misnedeh/' 3
composed of a dozen or more pieces of paper attached together at the
four corners, and resembling a thin book, which he rests on his knee.
His ink and pens are contained in an inkhorn, called "daw&yeh,"
mentioned in the first chapter of this work, together with the penknife,
and an ivory instrument (" mikattah ") upon which the pen is laid to
be nibbed. He rules his paper by laying under it a piece of paste-
i These are natives. There are also a few * Called ?arf.
Turkish booksellers. 3 Pronounced " misned'eh."
2 K
210
CHAPTER IX.
board with strings strained and glued across it (called a " mistarah ")/
and slightly pressing it over each string. Scissors are included among
the apparatus of a writer : they are used for cutting the paper ; a torn
edge being considered as unbecoming. In Cairo there are many persons
Books and Apparatus for Writing. 8
who obtain their livelihood by copying manuscripts. The expense of
writing a karr&s of twenty pages, quarto-size, with about twenty-five
lines to a page, in an ordinary hand, is about three piasters (or a little
more than sevenpencc of our money) ; but more if in an elegant hand ;
and about double the sum if with the vowel points, &c.
In Egypt, and particularly in its metropolis, those youths or men
who purpose to devote themselves to religious empltements, or to any
of the learned professions, mostly pursue a course otudy in the great
mosque El- Azhar; having previously learned noiffing more than to
read, and perhaps to write and to recite the Kur-an. The Azhar,
which is regarded as the principal university 8 of the East, is an ex-
tensive building, surrounding a large, square court. On one side of
1 Pronounced "
8 The latter consist of the reed ("kalam"),
the "mlkaftah," the penknife ("mikshat"), the
" dawayeh," the " mistarah," the " misnedeh "
(upon which the five articles before mentioned
lie), and the scissors ("mikass,") which, with
their sheath, are placed upon the upper hook.
3 The Azhar is not called a " university " with
strict propriety j but is regarded as such by the
Muslims, as whatever they deem worthy of the
name of science, or necessary to be known, is
taught within its walls. Its name has been trans-
lated, by Kuropean travellers, "the Mosque of
Flowers ;" as though it had been called "Gam6'
el- Azhar," instead of "El-Game' el -Azhar,"
which is its proper appellation, and signifies " the
Splendid Mosque/' It is the first with respect to
the period of its foundation, as well as in size, of
all the mosques within the original limits of the
city The preceding portion of this note (which
was inserted in the first edition of the present
work) apparently escaped the notice of Baron Ham-
mer-Purgstallj for he remarked (in the Vienna
" .Jahrbiieher der Litcratur," Ixxxi. Bd., p. 71) that,
instead of "Azhar," I should have written, in
this case, "Esher," [or "Ezher"]; the former,
he says, signifying " flowers." The name of the
mosque in question (synonymous with "neiyir,"
or " splendid," &c.,) is pronounced by almost all
the natives of Egypt, and the Arabs in general,
as I have written it, "Azhar," with the accent on
the first syllable; and the plural of "zahreh" (a
flower), "azhar:" but by the Turks the former
word is pronounced " ezhor."
THE GREAT MOSQUE EL-AZHAR. 211
this court, the side towards Mekkeh, is the chief place of prayer ; a
spacious portico : on each of the other three sides are smaller porticoes,
divided into a number of apartments, called " riw&ks," each of which
is destined for the use of natives of a particular country, or of a
particular province of Egypt. This building is situate within the
metropolis. It is not remarkable in point of architecture, and is so
surrounded by houses that very little of it is seen externally. The
students are called "mugawireen." 1 Each riwak has a library for
the use of its members ; and from the books which it contains, and the
lectures of the professors, the students acquire their learning. The
regular subjects of study are grammatical inflexion and syntax, 8
rhetoric, 8 versification, 4 logic, 5 theology, 6 the exposition of the Kur-a"n/
the Traditions of the Prophet, 8 the complete science of jurisprudence,
or rather of religious, moral, civil, and criminal law, 9 which is chiefly
founded on the Kur-an and the Traditions ; together with arithmetic, 10
as far as it is useful in matters of law. Lectures are also given on
algebra, 11 and on the calculations of the Mohammadan calendar, the
times of prayer, &c. 12 The lecturer seats himself on the ground, at
the foot of a column ; and his hearers, with him, seated also on the
ground, form a ring. Different books are read by students of different
sects. Most of the students, being natives of Cairo, are of the Shafe'ee
sect ; and always the Sheykh, or head of the mosque, is of this sect.
None of the stiwjfcnts pay for the instruction they receive; being
mostly of the Jorer classes. Most of those who are strangers,
having riwaks appropriated to them, receive a daily allowance of food,
provided from funds chiefly arising from the rents of houses bequeathed
for their maintenance. Those of Cairo and its neighbourhood used
to receive a similar allowance ; but this they no longer enjoy, except
during the month of Ramadan : for Mohammad 'Alee took possession
of all the cultivable land which belonged to the mosques, and thus the
Azhar lost the greater portion of the property which it possessed :
nothing but the expenses of necessary repairs, and the salaries of its
principal officers, are provided for by the government. The professors,
also, receive no salaries. Unless they inherit property, or have rela-
tions to maintain them, they have no regular means of subsistence but
1 In the singular, " mugawir." 7 " Et-tefseer."
* "Sarf" and "nahnv." " El-a^adees "
3 " El-ma'anee wa-1-bayau." "El-fik-h."
* "El-'arood." 10 "El-l?esab."
5 " El-mantilj;." n " El-gebr wa-l-mufcabaldi.
6 " Et-towheed." 1 J " El-meeJjat."
212 CHAPTER IX.
teaching in private houses, copying books, &c. ; but they sometimes
receive presents from the wealthy. Any person who is competent to
the task may become a professor by obtaining a licence from the
Sheykh of the mosque. The students mostly obtain their livelihood
by the same means as the professors ; or by reciting the Kur-an in
private houses, and at the tombs and other places. When sufficiently
advanced in their studies, some of them become kadees, muftees,
imdms of mosques, or schoolmasters, in their native villages or towns,
or in Cairo : others enter into trade : some remain all their lifetime
studying in the Azhar, and aspire to be ranked among the higher
'Ulama. Since the confiscation of the lands which belonged to the
Azhar, the number of that class of students to whom no endowed
riwak is appropriated has very much decreased. The number of
students, including all classes except the blind, is (as I am informed
by one of the professors) about one thousand five hundred. 1
There is a chapel (called "Zdwiyet el-'Omyan," or the Chapel of
the Blind), adjacent to the eastern angle of the Azhar, and one of the
dependencies of that mosque, where at present about three hundred
poor blind men, most of whom are students, are maintained, from
funds bequeathed for that purpose. These blind men often conduct
themselves in a most rebellious and violent manner : they are notorious
for such conduct, and for their fanaticism. A short time ago, a
European traveller entering the Azhar, and his presence there being
buzzed about, the blind men eagerly inquired, " Where is the infidel ?"
adding, "We will kill him;" and groping about at the same time
to feel and lay hold of him : they were the only persons who seemed
desirous of shewing any violence to the intruder. Before the accession
of Mohammad 'Alee B&sha, they often behaved in a very outrageous
manner whenever they considered themselves oppressed, or scanted in
their allowance of food: they would, on these occasions, take a few
guides, go about with staves, seize the turbans of passengers in the
streets, and plunder the shops. The most celebrated of the present
professors in the Azhar, the sheykh El-Kuweysinee, 2 who is himself
blind, being appointed, a few years ago, Sheykh of the Zwiyet el-
'Omy&n, as soon as he entered upon his office, caused every one of
the blind men there to be flogged ; but they rose against him, bound
him, and inflicted upon him a flogging far more severe than that
1 Many persons say that their number is not less 3 Since this was written he became Sheykh of
than three thousand : others, not more than one the Azhar. If c is now dead,
thousand. It varies very much at different times.
SCIENCE. 213
which they had themselves endured ; and obliged him to give up his
office.
Learning was in a much more flourishing state in Cairo before the
entrance of the French army than it has been in later years. It
suffered severely from this invasion ; not through direct oppression,
but in consequence of the panic which this event occasioned, and the
troubles by which it was followed. Before that period, a sheykh who
had studied in the Azhar, if he had only two boys, sons of a moderately
rich fell&h, to educate, lived in luxury : his two pupils served him,
cleaned his house, prepared his food, and, though they partook of it
with him, were his menial attendants at every time but that of eating :
they followed him whenever he went out ; carried his shoes (and often
kissed them when they took them off) on his entering a mosque; and
in every case treated him with the honour due to a prince. He was
then distinguished by an ample dress, and the large formal turban
called a " mukleh ;" and as he passed along the street, whether on
foot or mounted on an ass or mule, passengers often pressed towards
him to implore a short ejaculatory prayer on their behalf; and he
who succeeded in obtaining this wish believed himself especially
blessed : if he passed by a, Frank riding, the latter was obliged to
dismount: if he went to a butcher, to procure some meat (for he
found it best to do so, and not to send another), the butcher refused
to make any charge ; but kissed his hand, and received as an honour
and a blessing whatever he chose to give. The condition of a man
of this profession is now so fallen, that it is with difficulty he can
obtain a scanty subsistence, unless possessed of extraordinary talent.
The Muslim 'Ulama are certainly much fettered by their religion
in the pursuit of some of the paths of learning ; and superstition
sometimes decides a point which has been controverted for centuries.
There is one singular means of settling a contention on any point of
faith, science, or fact, of which I must give an instance. The follow-
ing anecdote was related to me by the Imam of the late Muftee (the
sheykh El-Mahdee) : I wrote it in Arabic, at his dictation, and shall
here translate his words. The sheykh Mohammad El-Bahaee (a
learned man, whom the vulgar regard as a " welee," or especial
favourite of heaven,) was attending the lectures of the sheykh El-
Emeer el-Kebeer (Sheykh of the sect of the M&likees), when the pro-
fessor read, from the Game' es-Sagheer l of Es-Suyootee, this saying
1 A celebrated compendious collection of the Traditions of the Prophet.
214 CHAPTER IX.
of the Prophet : " Verily El-Hasan and El-Hoseyn are the two lords
of the youths of the people of Paradise, in Paradise " and proceeded
to remark, in his lecture, after having given a summary of the history
of El-IJasan and El-IJoseyn, that, as to the common opinion of the
people of Masr (or Cairo) respecting the head of El-tloseyn, holding
it to he in the famous Mesh-hed in this city (the mosque of the
IJasaneyn), it was without foundation ; not being established by any
credible authority. " I was affected/' says Mohammad El-Bahaee,
" with excessive grief, by this remark ; since I believed what is be-
lieved by people of integrity and of intuition, that the noble head was
in this Mesh-hed ; and I entertained no doubt of it : but I would
not oppose the sheykh El-Emeer, on account of his high reputation
and extensive knowledge. The lecture terminated, and I went away,
weeping ; and when night over shaded the earth, I rose upon my feet,
praying, and humbly supplicating my Lord, and betaking myself to
his most noble apostle (God bless and save him), begging that' I
might see him in my sleep, and that he would inform me in my sleep
of the truth of the matter concerning the place of the noble head.
And I dreamed that I was walking on the way to visit the celebrated
Mesh-hed El-Hoseynee in Masr, and that I approached the kubbeh, 1
and saw in it a spreading light, which filled it : and I entered its
door, and found a shereef standing by the door; and I saluted him,
and he returned my salutation, and said to me, f Salute the Apostle
of God (God bless and save him) ;' and I looked towards the kibleh, 2
and saw the Prophet (God bless and save him) sitting upon a throne,
and a man standing on his right, and another man standing on his
left : and I raised my voice, saying, < Blessing and p6ace be on thee, O
Apostle of God :' and I repeated this several times, weeping as I did
it : and I heard the Apostle of God (God bless and save him) say to
me, 'Approach, my son, Mohammad/ Then the first man took
me, and conducted me towards the Prophet (God bless and save him),
and placed me in his noble presence ; and I .saluted him, and he re-
turned my salutation, and said to me, c God recompense thee for thy
visit to the head of El-ljoseyn my son.' I said, ' Apostle of God,
is the head of El-IJoseyn here ?' He answered, ' Yes, it is here.'
And I became cheerful : grief fled from me ; and my heart was
strengthened Then I said, ' Apostle of God, I will relate to thee
1 The saloon of the tomb.
That is, towards the niche which marks the direction of Mekkch.
SCIENCE. 215
what my sheykh and my preceptor El-Emeer hath affirmed in his
lecture :' and I repeated to him the words of the sheykh : and he
(God bless and save him) looked down, and then raised his head,
and said, ( The copyists are excused/ I awoke from my sleep joyful
and happy : hut I found that much remained of the night ; and I
became impatient of its length ; longing for the morn to shine, that I
might go to the sheykh, and relate to him the dream, in the hope that
he might believe me. When the morn rose, I prayed, and went to
the house of the sheykh ; but found the door shut. I knocked it
violently ; and the porter came in alarm, asking, e Who is that V but
when he knew me, for he had known my abode from the sheykh, he
opened the door to me : if it bad been another person, he would have
beaten him. I entered the court of the house, and began to call out,
' My master ! My master !' The sheykh awoke, and asked, ' Who
is that r I answered, r It is I, thy pupil, Mohammad El-Bahaee/
The sheykh was in wonder at my coming at this time, and exclaimed,
* God's perfection ! What is this ? What is the news ?' thinking
that some great event had happened among the people. He then
said to me, ( Wait while I pray.' I did not sit down until the sheykh
came down to the lower room ; when he said to me, i Come up :' and
I went up, and neither saluted him, nor kissed his hand, from the
effect of the dream which I had seen; but said, 'The head of El-
Hoseyn is in this well-known Mesh-hed in Masr : there is no doubt
of it/ The sheykh said, ' What proof have you of that ? If it be a
true record, adduce it/ I said, ( Prom a book, I have none/ The
sheykh said, ' Hast thou seen a vision V I replied, ' Yes ;' and I
related it to him ; and informed him that the Apostle of God (God
bless and save him) had told me that the man who was standing by
the door was 'Alee the son of Aboo-Talib, and that he who was on the
right of the Prophet, by the throne, was Aboo-Bekr, and that he on
his left was ; 0mar the son of El-Oattab ; and that they had come
to visit the. head of the Im&m El-IJoseyn. The sheykh rose, and
took me by the hand, and said, Let us go and visit the Mesh-hed
El-IJoseynee ;' and when he entered the kubbeh, he said, * Peace be
on thee, son of the daughter of the Apostle of God. I believe that
the noble head is here, by reason of the vision which this person has
seen \ for the vision of the Prophet is true ; since he hath said, ' Whoso
seeth me in his sleep seeth me truly ; for Satan cannot assume the
similitude of my form/ Then the sheykh said to me, 'Thou hast
believed, and I have believed : for these lights are not illusive/ "
216 CHAPTER IX.
The^iabove-quoted tradition of the Prophet has often occasioned other
points of dispute to be settled in the same manner, by a dream ; and
when the dreamer is a person of reputation, no one ventures to con-
tend against him.
The remark made at the commencement of this chapter implies
that there are, in the present day, many learned men in the metropolis
of Egypt ; and there are some also in other towns of this country.
One of the most celebrated of the modern 'Ulama of Cairo is the
sheykh Hasan El-' Attar, who is the present Sheykh of the Azhar. 1
In theology and jurisprudence, he is not so deeply versed as some of
his contemporaries, particularly the sheykh El-Kuweysinee, whom I
have before mentioned ; but he is eminently accomplished in polite
literature. 2 He is the author of an " Insha," an excellent collection
of Arabic letters, on various subjects, which are intended as models of
epistolary style. This work has been printed at BooMk. In mention-
ing its author, I fulfil a promise which he condescended to ask of me :
supposing that I should publish, in my own country, some account of
the'people of Cairo, he desired me to state that I was acquainted with
him, and to give my opinion of his acquirements. The sheykh
Mohammad Shihab is also deservedly celebrated as an accomplished
Arabic scholar, and elegant poet. His affability and wit attract to
his house, every evening, a few friends, in whose pleasures, on these
occasions, I sometimes participate. We are received in a small, but
very comfortable room : each of us takes his own pipe ; and coffee
alone is presented to us : the sheykh's conversation is the most de-
lightful banquet that he can offer us. There are also several other
persons in Cairo who enjoy considerable reputation as philologists
and poets. The sheykh 'Abd-Er-Rahmn El-Gabartee, another mo-
dern author, and a native of Cairo, particularly deserves to be men-
tioned, as having written a very excellent history of the events which
have taken place in Egypt since the commencement of the twelfth
century of the Flight. 3 He died in 1825, or 1826, soon after my
first arrival in Cairo. His family was of El-Gabart, on the south-east
of Abyssinia, bordering on the ocean. The Gabartees (or natives of
that country) are Muslims. They have a riwak (or apartment appro-
priated to such of them as wish to study) in the Azhar ; and there is
a similar provision for them at Mekkeh, and also at El-Medeeneh.
1 Since the above was written, this eminent 3 The twelfth century of the Flight commenced
scholar has died. on the 16th or 17th of October, A. D. 1688.
* 'Ilm el-adab."
SCIENCE. 217
The works of the ancient Arab poets were but imperfectly under-
stood (in consequence of many words contained in them having be-
come obsolete) between two and three centuries, only, after the time of
Mohammad : it must not therefore be inferred, from what has been
said in the preceding paragraph, that persons able to explain the most
difficult passages of the early Arab authors are now to be found in
Cairo, or elsewhere. There are, however, many in Egypt who are
deeply versed in Arabic grammar, rhetoric, and polite literature;
though the sciences mostly pursued in this country are theology and
jurisprudence. Few of the 'Ulama of Egypt are well acquainted with
the history of their own nation ; much less with that of other people.
The literary acquirements of those who do not belong to the
classes who make literature their profession are of a very inferior
kind. Many of the wealthy tradespeople are well instructed in the
^arts of reading and writing ; but few of these devote much time to
the pursuit of literature. Those who have committed to memory the
whole, or considerable portions, of the Kur-^in, and can recite two or
three celebrated " kaseedehs " (or short poems), or introduce, now
and then, an apposite quotation in conversation, are considered ac-
complished persons. Many of the tradesmen of Cairo can neither
read nor write, or can only read ; and are obliged to have recourse to
a friend to write their accounts, letters, &c. : but these persons gene-
rally cast accounts, and make intricate calculations, mentally, with
surprising rapidity and correctness.
It is a very prevalent notion among the Christians of Europe,
that the Muslims are enemies to almost every branch of knowledge.
This is an erroneous idea ; but it is true that their studies, in the pre-
sent age, are confined within very narrow limits. Very few of them
study medicine, chymistry (for our first knowledge of which we are
indebted to the Arabs), the mathematics, or astronomy. The Egyptian
medical and surgical practitioners arc mostly barbers, miserably
ignorant of the sciences which they profess, and unskilful in their
practice; partly in consequence of their being prohibited by their
religion from availing themselves of the advantage of dissecting
human bodies. But a number of young men, natives of Egypt, are
now receiving European instruction in medicine, anatomy, surgery,
and other sciences, for the service of the government. Many of the
Egyptians, in illness, neglect medical aid ; placing their whole reliance
on Providence or on charms. Alchymy is more studied in this country
than pure chymistry ; and astrology, more than astronomy. The
218 CHAPTER IX.
astrolabe and quadrant are almost the only astronomical instruments
used in Egypt. Telescopes are rarely seen here ; and the magnetic
needle is seldom employed, except to discover the direction of
Mekkeh ; for which purpose, convenient little compasses (called
" kibleeyehs "), shewing the direction of the kibleh at various large
towns in different countries, are constructed, mostly at Dimyt :
many of these have a dial, which shews the time of noon, and also
that of the 'asr, at different places and different seasons. Those per-
sons in Egypt who profess to have considerable knowledge of astronomy
are generally blind to the true principles of the science : to say that
the earth revolves round the sun, they consider absolute heresy.
Pure astronomy they make chiefly subservient to their computations
of the calendar.
The Muslim year consists of twelve lunar months ; the names of
wliieh are pronounced by the Egyptians in the following manner :
1. Moharram.
2. Safar.
3. Rabeea el-Owwal.
4. Rabeea et-Tanee.
5. Gumad el-Owwal, or Gumada-1-Oola.
6. Gum&d et-Tdnee, or Gumada-t-Taniyeh.
7. Regeb.
8. Shaaban.
9 Ramadan.
10. Showwal.
11. Zu-1-ICaadeh, or El-Ka?uleh.
12. Zu-1-Heggeh, or El-Heggeh. 1
1 It is the general opinion of our chronologers, Monday, the nineteenth of April, A. D. 622. Ae-
that the first day of the Muslim era of * the cording to M. Caussin de Perceval, the first ten
Plight" (hi Arabic, "el-Hyrah," or, as itis pro- years of the Plight commenced at the following
nounccd by most of the Egyptians, "el-Higreh," periods:
more correctly translated "the Emigration/') was 1st. [Monday] April 19, 622.
Friday, the 16th of July, A. P. 622. But M. Caussin 2nd. [Saturday] May 7, 623.
de Perceval (in his "Essai sur 1'Histoire des 3rd. [Thursday] April 26, 624.
Arahes," &c.,) has shewn that this is a mistake. 4th. [Monday] April 15, 626.
The first year of the Plight was the two hundred 6th. [Saturday] May 3, 626.
and eleventh year of a period during which the 6th. [Thursday] April 23, 627.,
Arabs made use of a defective luni-solar reckon- 7th. [Tuesday] April 12, 628.
ing, making every third year to consist of thirteen 8th. [Monday] May 1, 629.
lunar months j the others consisting of twelve 9th. [Friday] April 20, 630.
such months. This mode of reckoning was 10th. [Tuesday] April 9, 631.
abolished by Mohammad in the twelfth month of Thus it appears that the first and fourth and
the tenth year of the Plight, at the time of the seventh years were of thirteen lunar months each;
pilgrimage ; whence it appears that the first and the seventh was the last year that was thus
year of the Flight commenced, most probably, on augmented j therefore, with the eighth year com-
SCIENCE. 219
Each of these months retrogrades through all the different seasons
of the solar year in the period of about thirty-three years and a half:
consequently, they are only used for fixing the anniversaries of most
religious festivals, and for the dates of historical events, letters, &c. ;
and not in matters relating to astronomy or the seasons. In the latter
cases, the Coptic months are still in general use.
With the modern names of the latter I give the corresponding
periods of our calendar :
1. Toot "commences on the 10th or llth of September.
2. Babeh 10th or llth of October.
3. Hdtoor 9th or 10th of November.
4 Kiyahk (vulg. Kiydk) . 9th or 10th of December.
5. Toobeh 8th or 9th of January.
6. Am sheer 7th or 8th of February.
7. Barmahat .... 9th of March.
8. Barmoodeh .... 8th of April.
9. Beshens 8th of May.
10. Ba-ooneh 7th of June.
11. Ebeeb 7th of July.
12. Misra 6th of August. 1
The Eiydm en-Nesee (Intercalary days), five or six days, complete
the year.
These months, it will be observed, are of thirty days each. Five
intercalary days are added at the end of three successive years ; and
six at the end of the fourth year. The Coptic leap-year immediately
precedes ours: therefore the Coptic year begins on the llth of
September only when it is the next after their leap-year; or when
our next ensuing year is a leap-year; and consequently, after the
following February, the corresponding days of the Coptic and our
months will be the same as in other years. The Copts begin their
reckoning from the era of Diocletian, A.D. 284.
mcnccd the reckoning by common lunar years j moon or month of Moharram preceding that
and from this point wo may use the tables that event. It is said that Mohammad, after he had
have often been published for finding the periods remained three days concealed in a cave near
of commencement of years of the Flight. But we Mekkeh, with Aboo-Bekr, began his journey, or
must not rely upon the exact accuracy of these "flight," to El-Medeeneh, on the ninth day of the
tables : for the commencement of the month was third month (Kabe& el-Owwal), sixty-eight days
generally determined by actual observation of the after the commencement of the era.
new moon, and therefore differed in different l The Coptic names, of which these are comip
places, The era does not commence from the day tions, are given in Horse ^Egyptiacffi/' by B. S.
on which the PropHfet departed from Mekkeh (as Poole, pp. 7 9j and their derivation from the
supposed by most of our authors who have men- names of the ancient Egyptian divinities of the
tioned this subject), but from the first day of the months is shewnin pp. 14, 15, and 18, of that work.
220
CHAPTER
The modern (like the ancient) Egyptians divide the year into three
seasons; namely, the winter (" esh-shita "), the summer ("es-seyf "),
and the inundation ("en-neel," properly the Nile). Their astronomers
also make use of the calendar of the Mansions of the Moon, by which
the people of Arabia used to regulate all affairs relating to the seasons.
In Egypt, and other Muslim countries, from sunset to sunset is
reckoned as the civil day ; the night being classed with the day which
follows it : thus the night before Friday is called the night of Friday.
Sunset is twelve o'clock: an hour after sunset, oife o'clock; two
hours, two o'clock ; and so on to twelve : after twelve o* clock in the
morning, the hours are again named one, two, three, and so on. 1
The Egyptians wind up and (if necessary) set their watches at sunset ;
or rather, a few minutes after ; generally when they hear the call to
evening-prayer. Their watches, according to this system of reckoning
from sunset, to be always quite correct, should be set every evening,
as the days vary in length.
The following Table shews the times of Muslim prayer, 2 with the
apparent European time of sunset, in and near the latitude of Cairo,
the commencement of each zodiacal month :
June 21
Sunset.
'Eshe.
Bay-
break.
Noon.
'A?r.
Mo. T.
h. m.
12
Eur. T.
h. m.
7 4
Mo. T.
h. m.
1 34
Mo. T.
h. m.
8 6
Mo. T.
h. m.
4 56
Mo. T.
h. m.
8 31
July 22
May 21
12
6 53
1 30
8 30
5 7
8 43
Aug. 23
Apr, 20
12
6 31
1 22
9 24
5 29
9 4
Sep. 23
Mar. 20
12
6 4
1 18
10 24
5 56
9 21
Oct. 23
Fob. 18
12
5 37
1 18
11 18
6 23
9 35
Nov. 22
Jan., 20
12
5 15
1 22
11 59
6 45
9 41
Dec. 21
12
5 4
1 24
12 15
6 56
9 43
A pocket almanac is annually printed at the government-press at
Booldk. 3 It comprises the period of a solar year, commencing and
terminating with the vernal equinox; and gives, for every day, the
1 Consequently the time of noon according to
Mohammadan reckoning, on any particular day,
subtracted from twelve, gives the apparent time
of sunset, on that day, according to European
reckoning.
" The periods of the 'eshe, daybreak, and 'asr,
are here given according to the reckoning most
commonly followed in Egypt. (See the chapter
on religion and laws ) " Mo. T." denotes Moham-
madan Time : " Eur. T.," European Time.
3 More than a hundred books had been printed
at this press at the time of my second visit to
Egypt : most of them for the use of the military,
naval, and civil servants of the government.
Since that time, the Thousand and One Nights,
and the " Khitat " of El-Makreezee, and several
other important works, have been printed in the
same press, at the expense of private individuals.
SCIENCE. 221
day of the week, and of the Mohammadan, Coptic, Syrian, and
European months ; together with the sun's place in the zodiac, and
the time of sunrise, noon, and the 'asr. It is prefaced with a summary
of the principal eras and feast-days of the Muslims, Copts, and others ;
and' remarks and notices relating to the seasons. Subjoined to it is a
calendar containing physical, agricultural, and other notices for every
day in the year ; mentioning eclipses, &c. ; and comprising much
matter suited to the superstitions of the people, together with some
remains of the ancient calendar of Egypt. It is the work of Yahya
Efendee, originally a Christian priest of Syria; but now a Muslim. 1
Of geography, the Egyptians in general, and, with very few ex-
ceptions, the best instructed among them, have scarcely any knowledge :
having no good maps, they are almost wholly ignorant of the relative
situations of the several great countries of Europe. Some few of the
learned venture to assert that the earth is a globe; but they are
opposed by a great majority of the 'Ulama . The common opinion of
all classes of Muslims is, that our earth is an almost plane expanse,
surrounded by the ocean, 2 which, they say, is encompassed by a chain
of mountains called " Kaf." They believe it to be the uppermost of
seven earths ; and in like manner they believe that there are seven
heavens, one above another.
Such being the state of science among the modern Egyptians, the
reader will not be surprised at finding the present chapter followed by
a long account of their superstitions ; a knowledge of which is neces-
sary to enable him to understand their character, and to make due
allowances for many of its faults. We may hope for, and, indeed,
reasonably expect, a very great improvement in the intellectual and
moral state of this people, in consequence of the introduction of
European sciences, by which Mohammad 'Alee, in some 'degree, made
amends for his oppressive sway ; but it is not probable that this hope
will be soon realized to any considerable extent. 3
1 During my last residence in Egypt, the of much matter calculated to interest only (Men-
almanac of Yahya Efendee was superseded by one talists. With respect to recent innovations, 1
better adapted to astronomical purposes, and have made but few and brief remarks in this
very creditable to its author, Mahmood Efendee. work, in consequence of my having found the
a As the Greeks believed in the age of Homer- lights of European science almost exclusively
and Hesiod. confined to those servants of the government
3 It has been justly remarked, by Baron Ham- who have been compelled to study under Frank
mer-Purgstall, that the present Chapter of this instructors, and European customs adopted by
work is very deficient. I should gladly have scarcely any persons except a few Turks. Some
made its contents more ample, had I not felt Egyptians who had studied for a few years in
myself obliged to consult the taste of the general France declared to me that they could not instil
reader, upon whose patience I fear I have already any of the notions which they had there acquired
trespassed to too great an extent by the insertion even into the minds of their most intimate friends
( 222 )
CHAPTER X.
SUPERSTITIONS.
THE Arabs are a very superstitious people; and none ot them are
more so than those of Egypt. Many of their superstitions form a
part of their religion, being sanctioned by the Kur-dn ; and the most
prominent of these is the belief in " Ginn," or Genii, in the singular,
" Ginnee."
The Ginn are said to be of pre-adamite origin, and, in their general
properties, an intermediate class of beings between angels and men,
but inferior in dignity to both, created of fire, and capable of assuming
the forms arid material fabric of men, brutes, and monsters, and of
becoming invisible at pleasure. They eat and drink, propagate their
species (like, or in conjunction with, human beings), and are subject
to death ; though they generally live many centuries. Their principal
abode is in the chain of mountains called " Kaf," which are believed
to encompass the whole earth : as mentioned near the close of the
preceding chapter. Some are believers in El-Islam : others are
infidels : the latter are what are also called " Sheyt&ns," or devils ;
of whom Iblees (that is, Satan, or the devil,) is the chief : for it is the
general and best-supported opinion, that he (like the other devils) is
a ginnee, as he was created of fire ; whereas ihe angels are created of
light , and are impeccable. Of both the classes of ginn, good and evil,
the Arabs stand in great awe; and for the former they entertain a
high degree of respect. It is a common custom of this people, on
pouring water, &c., on the ground, to exclaim, or mutter, " Destoor ;"
that is, to ask the permission, or crave the pardon, of any ginnee
that may chance to be there : for the ginn are supposed to pervade
the solid matter of the earth, as well as the firmament, where, ap-
proaching the confines of the lowest heaven, they often listen to the
conversation of the angels respecting future things, thus enabling
themselves to assist diviners and magicians. They are also believed
GEKII. 223
to inhabit rivers, ruined houses, wells, baths/ ovens, and even the
latrina : hence, persons, when they enter the latter place, and when
they let down a bucket into a well, or light a fire, and on other
occasions, say, "Permission/' or "Permission, ye blessed:" 2 which
words, in the case of entering the latrina, they sometimes preface with
a prayer for God's protection against all evil spirits; but in doing
this, some persons are careful not to mention the name of God after
they have entered (deeming it improper in such a place), and only
say, " T seek refuge with Thee from the male and female devils."
These customs present a commentary on the story in the " Thousand
and One Nights/' in which a merchant is described as having killed a
ginnee by throwing aside the stone of a date which he had just eaten.
In the same story, and in others of the same collection, a ginnee is
represented as approaching in a whirlwind of sand or dust ; and it is
the general belief of the Arabs of Egypt, that the "zoba'ah," or
whirlwind which raises the sand or dust in the form of a pillar of
prodigious height, and which is so often seen sweeping across the fields
and deserts of this country, is caused by the flight of one of these
beings; or, in other words, that the ginnee "rides in the zoba'ah." 3
A charm is usually uttered by the Egyptians to avert the zoba'ah,
when it seems to be approaching them : some of them exclaim, " Iron,
thou unlucky 1" 4 as ginn are supposed to have a great dread of that
metal : others endeavour to drive away the monster by exclaiming,
"God is most great !" 5 What we call a "falling star" (and which
the Arabs term " shihab ") is commonly believed to be a dart thrown
by God at an evil ginnee; and the Egyptians, when they see it,
exclaim, " May God transfix the enemy of the religion V The evil
ginnees are commonly termed "'Efreets;" and one of this class is
mentioned in the Kur-an in these words, "An 'efreet of the ginn
answered" (ch. xxvii. v. 39): which words Sale translates, "A
terrible genius answered." They are generally believed to differ from
the other ginn in being very powerful, and always malicious; but to
i In the belief that it will prevent the ginn through, and violently agitated, a distant group
from entering the bath, it is a common custom in of palm-trees), and found it to be seven hundred
Egypt, of Muslims as well as Christians, to draw, and fifty feet. I think that several zoba'ahs
or paint, a cross over its entrance. which I have seen were of greater height.
" Destoor," or " Destoor ya mubarakeen." Others, which I measured at the same place,
a I measured the height of a z<5ba'ah, with a were between five hundred and seven hundred
sextant, at Thebes, in circumstances which in- feet in height. *
sured a' very near approximation to perfect accu- * " tfadeed ya mashoom."
racy (observing its altitude, from an elevated 5 "Allahuakbar."
spot at the precise moment when it passed 6 " Saham Allah fee 'ado6 ed-deen."
224 CHA1BPK X.
be, in other respects, of a similar nature. An evil ginnee of the most
powerful class is called a " Mdrid."
Connected with the history of the ginn are many fables not ac-.
knowledged by the Kur-n, and therefore not credited by the more
sober Muslims, but only by the less instructed. All agree that the
ginn were created before mankind ; but some distinguish another class
of pre-adamite beings of a similar nature. It is commonly believed
that the earth was inhabited, before the time of Adam, by a race of
beings differing from ourselves in form, and much more powerful;
and that forty (or, according to some, seventy-two,) pre-adamite kings,
each of whom bore the name of Suleyman (or Solomon), successively
governed this people. The last of these Suleymans was named Gann
Ibn-Gann ; and from him, some think, the ginn (who are also called
" gann ") l derive their name. Hence, some believe the ginn to be
the same with the pre-adamite race here mentioned : but others assert-
that they (the ginn) were a distinct class of beings, and brought into
subjection by the other race.
Ginnees are believed often to assume, or perpetually to wear, the
shapes of cats, dogs, and other brute animals. The sheykh Khaleel
El-Medabighee, one of the most celebrated of the 'Ulama of Egypt,
and author of several works on various sciences, who died, at a very
advanced age, during the period of my first visit to this country, used
to relate the following anecdote : He had, he said, a favourite black
cat, which always slept at the foot of his musquito-curtain. Once, at
midnight, he heard a knocking at the door of his house ; and his cat
went, and opened the hanging shutter of his window, and called,
" Who is there ?" A voice replied, " I am such a one " (mentioning
a strange name) " the ginnee : open the door." " The lock," said the
sheykh' s cat, " has had the name [of God] pronounced upon it." 8
"Then throw me down," said the other, "two cakes of bread." "The
bread-basket," answered the cat at the window, " has had the name
pronounced upon it." " Well," said the stranger, " at least give me a
draught of water." But he was answered that the water-jar had been
secured in the same manner; and asked what he was to do, seeing
that he was likely to die of hunger and thirst : the sheykh's cat told
1 According to some writers, the Ga"nn are the down their clothes at night, and on other ooca-
least powerful class of Ginn. sions ; and this, they believe, protects their pro-
. * It is a custom of man* "fukaha" (or learned perty from genii. The thing over which these
and devout persons), and some others, to say, " In words have been pronounced is termed " mu-
Ihe name of God, the Compassionate, the Mer- scmmee (for " rausemma ") 'aleyh."
cifUl," on locking a door, covering bread, laying
225
him to go to the door of the next house ; and went there also himself,
and opened the door, and soon after returaed. Next morning, the
sheykh deviated from a habit which he had constantly observed : he
gave, to the cat, half of the fateereh upon, which he breakfasted, in-
stead of a little morsel, which he was wont to give ; and afterwards
said, " my cat, thou knowest that I am a poor man : bring me,
then, a little gold :" upon which words, the cat immediately dis-
appeared, and he saw it no more. Ridiculous as stories of this kind
really are, it is impossible, without relating one or more, to convey a
just notion of the opinions of the people whom I am attempting to
describe.
It is commonly affirmed, that malicious or disturbed ginn very
often station themselves on the roofs, or at the windows, of houses in
Cairo, and other towns of Egypt, and throw bricks and stones down
into the streets and courts. A few days ago, I was told of a case of
this kind, which had alarmed the people in the main street of the
metropolis for a whole week ; many bricks having been thrown down
from some of the houses every day during this period, but nobody
killed or wounded. I went to the scene of these pretended pranks of
the ginn, to witness them, and to make inquiries on the subject ; but
on my arrival there, I was told that the "regm" (that is, the throw-
ing,) had ceased. I found no one who denied the throwing down of
the bricks, or doubted that it was the work of ginn ; and the general
remark, on mentioning the subject, was, " God preserve us from their
evil doings !"
One of my friends observed to me, on this occasion, that he had
met with some Englishmen who disbelieved in the existence of ginn ;
but he concluded that they had never witnessed a public performance,
though common in their country, of which he had since heard, called
"kumedyeh" (or comedy) ; by which term he meant to include all
theatrical performances. Addressing one of his countrymen, and
appealing* to me for the confirmation of his words, he then said, " An
Algerine, a short time ago, gave me an account of a spectacle of this
kind which he had seen in London." Here his countryman inter-
rupted him, by asking, " Is not England in London ? or is London a
town in England V My friend, with diffidence, and looking to me,
answered that London was the metropolis of England 5 and then re-
sumed the subject of the theatre. "The house," said he, "in which
the spectacle was exhibited cannot be described : it was of a round
form, with many benches on the floor, and closets all round, in rows,
2 G
226 CHAPTER X.
one above another, in which people of the higher classes sat; and
there was a large square aperture, closed with a curtain. When the
house was full of people, who paid large sums of money to he admitted,
it suddenly became very dark : it was at night ; and the house had
been lighted up with a great many lamps ; but these became almost
entirely extinguished, all at the same time, without being touched by
anybody. Then, the great curtain was drawn up : they heard the
roaring of the sea and wind ; and indistinctly perceived, through the
gloom, the waves rising and foaming, and lashing the shore. Pre-
sently a tremendous peal of thunder was heard ; after a flash of light-
ning had clearly shewn to the spectators the agitated sea : and then
there fell a heavy shower of real rain. Soon after, the day broke ;
the sea became more plainly visible ; and two ships were seen in the
distance : they approached, and fought each other, firing their cannons ;
and a variety of other extraordinary scenes were afterwards exhibited.
Now it is evident," added my friend, " that such wonders must have
been the works of ginn, or at least performed by their assistance."
He could not be convinced of his error by my explanations of these
phenomena.
During the month of Ramadan, the ginn, it is said, are confined
in prison; and hence, on the eve of the festival which follows that
month, some of the women of Egypt, with the view of preventing
these objects of dread from entering their houses, sprinkle salt upon
the floors of the apartments ; saying, as they do it, " In the name of
God, the Compassionate, the Merciful."
A curious relic of ancient Egyptian superstition must here be
mentioned. It is believed that each quarter in Cairo has its peculiar
guardian-genius, or Agatbodsemon, which has the form of a serpent.
The ancient tombs of Egypt, and the dark recesses of the temples,
are commonly believed, by the people of this country, to be inhabited
by 'efreets. I found it impossible to persuade one of my servants to
enter the Great Pyramid with me, from his having this idea. Many
of the Arabs ascribe the erection of the Pyramids, and all the most
stupendous remains of antiquity in Egypt, to Gann Ibn-Gnn, and
his servants, the ginn ; conceiving it impossible that they could have
been raised by human hands.
The term Afreet is commonly applied rather to an evil ginnee than
any other being ; but the ghosts of dead persons are also called by
this name ; and many absurd stories are related of them ; and great
are the fears which they inspire, There are some persons, however,
SAINTS. 227
who hold them in no degree of dread. I had once a humorous cook,
who was somewhat addicted to the intoxicating hasheesh : soon after
he had entered my service, I heard him, one evening, muttering and
exclaiming, on the stairs, as if dn surprise at some event ; and then
politely saying, " But why are you sitting here in the draught ? Do
me the favour to come up into the kitchen, and amuse me with your
conversation a little." The civil address, not being answered, was re-
peated and varied several times ; till I called out to the man, and
asked him to whom he was speaking. "The 'efreet of a Turkish
soldier," he replied, " is sitting on the stairs, smoking his pipe, and
refuses to move : he came up from the well below : pray step and see
him/' On my going to the stairs, and telling the servant that I
could see nothing, -he only remarked that it was because I had a clear
conscience. He was told, afterwards, that the house had long been
haunted ; but asserted that he had not been previously informed of
the supposed cause; which was the fact of a Turkish soldier having
been murdered there. My cook professed to see this 'efreet frequently
after.
The existence of " Ghools " likewise obtains almost universal
credence among the modern Egyptians, in common with several other
Eastern nations. These beings are generally believed to be a class
of evil ginnees, and are said to appear in the forms of various animals,
and in many monstrous shapes ; to haunt burial-grounds, and other
sequestered spots; to feed upon dead bodies; and to kill and devour
every human creature who has the misfortune to fall in their way.
Hence, the term " ghool " is applied, in general, to any cannibal.
That fancies such as these should exist in the minds of a people
so ignorant as those who are the subject of these pages cannot reason-
ably excite our surprise. But the Egyptians pay a superstitious re-
verence not to imaginary beings alone: they extend it to certain
individuals of their own species ; and often to those who are justly
the least entitled to such respect. 1 An idiot or a fool is vulgarly
regarded by them as a being whose mind is in heaven, while his
grosser part mingles among ordinary mortals ; consequently, he is
considered an especial favourite of heaven. Whatever enormities a
reputed saint may commit (and there are many who are constantly
infringing precepts of their religion), such acts do not affect his fame
for sanctity : for they are considered as the results of the abstraction
1 As is the case also in Switzerland.
228 CHAPTER X.
of his mind from worldly things; his soul, or reasoning faculties,
being wholly absorbed in devotion, so that his passions are left with-
out control. Lunatics who are dangerous to society are kept in con-
finement; but those who are harmless are generally regarded as saints.
Most of the reputed saints of Egypt are either lunatics, or idiots, or
impostors. Some of them go about perfectly naked, and are so highly
venerated, that the women, instead of avoiding them, sometimes suffer
these wretches to take any liberty with them in a public street ; and,
by the lower orders, are not considered as disgraced by such actions,
which, however, are of very rare occurrence. Others are seen clad in
a cloak or long coat composed of patches of various coloured cloths,
which is called a " dilk/ n adorned with numerous 6 strings of beads,
wearing a ragged turban, and bearing a staff with shreds of cloth of
various colours attached to the top. Some of them eat straw, or a
mixture of chopped straw and broken glass ; and attract observation
by a variety of absurd actions. During my first visit to this country,
I often met, in the streets of Cairo, a deformed man, almost naked,
with long matted hair, and riding upon an ass, led by another man.
0$ these occasions, he always stopped his beast directly before me, so
as to intercept my way, recited the Fat'hah (or opening chapter of
th'e Kur-an), and then held out his hand for an alms. The first time
that he thus crossed me, I endeavoured to avoid him ; but a person
passing by remonstrated with me, observing that the man before me
was a saint, and that I ought to respect him, and comply with his
demand, lest some misfortune should befall me. Men of this class
are supported by alms, which they often receive without asking for
them* A reputed saint is commonly called "sheykh," "munibit,"
or " welee." If affected with lunacy or idiotcy, or of weak intellect,
he is also, and more properly, termed "megzoob," or "mesloob."
" Welec " is an appellation correctly given only to an eminent and a
very devout saint ; and means " a favourite of heaven ;" but it is so
commonly applied to real or pretended idiots, that some wit has given
it a new interpretation, as equivalent to " beleed," which means ' ( a
fool" or "simpleton;" remarking that these two terms are equi-
valent both in sense and in the numerical value of the letters com-
posing them: for "welee" is written with the letters "wa/w,"
" lam/' and " ye," of which the numerical values are 6, 30, and 10,
or, together, 46; and "beleed" is written with "be," "1dm," "ye,"
Also (and more properly) pronounced " dalifc," but commonly pronounce^ as above.
SAINTS. 229
and " dal," which are 2, 30, 10, and 4, or, added together, 46. A
simpleton is often jestingly called a welee.
The Muslims of Egypt, in common with those of other countries,
entertain very curious superstitions respecting the persons whom
they call welees. I have often endeavoured to obtain information on
the most mysterious of these superstitions ; and have generally been
answered, " You are meddling with the matters of the ' tareekah,' "
or the religious course of the darweeshes; but I have been freely
acquainted with general opinions on these subjects, and such are
perhaps all that may be required to be stated in a work like the
present: I shall, however, also relate what I have been told by
learned persons, and by darweeshes, in elucidation of the popular
belief.
In the first place, if a person were to express a doubt as to the
existence of true welees, he would be branded with infidelity j and
the following passage of the Kur-an would be adduced to condemn
him: " Verily, on the favourites 1 of God no fear shall come, nor
shall they grieve." 2 This is considered as sufficient to prove that
there is a class of persons distinguished above ordinary human
beings. The question then suggests itself, "Who, or of what
description, arc these persons?" and we are answered, "They are
persons wholly devoted to God, and possessed of extraordinary faith ;
and, according to their degree of faith, endowed with the power of
performing miracles." 3
The most holy of the welees is termed the Kutb ; or, according to
some persons, there are two who have this title ; and again, according
to others, four. The term " kutb " signifies an axis ; and hence is
applied to a welee who rules over others ; they depending upon him,
and being subservient to him. For the same reason it is applied to
temporal rulers, or any person of high authority. The opinion that
there are four kutbs, I am told, is a vulgar error, originating from
the frequent mention of " the four kutbs," by which expression are
meant the founders of the four most celebrated orders of darweeshes
(the Rifa'eeyeh, Kadireeyeh, Ahmedeeyeh, and Barahimeh) ; each of
whom is believed to have been the kutb of his time. I have also
generally been told, that the opinion of there being two kutbs is a
vulgar error, founded upon two names, " Kutb el-Hakeekah " (said
i In the original, "owliya," plural of " welee." "karameh:" one performed by a prophet, "mo$.
a Ch. x. v. 63. gizeh."
3 A miracle performed by a welee is termed
230 CHAPTER X.
to mean the Koitb of Truth), and Kutb el-Ghos " (or the Kutb of
Invocation for help), which properly belong to but one person. The
term " el- Kutb el-Mutawellee" is applied, by those who believe in
but one kutb, to the one ruling at the present time ; and by those
who believe in two, to the acting kutb. The kutb who exercises a
superintendence over all other welees (whether or not there be
another kutb, for if there be, he is inferior to the former,) has,
under his authority, welees of different ranks, to perform different
offices; "Nakeebs," "Negeebs," "Bedeels/' 1 &c. ; who are known
only to each other, and perhaps to the rest of the welees, as holding
such offices.
The Kutb, it is said, is often seen, but not known as such ; and
the same is said of all who hold authority under him. He always has
a humble demeanour, and mean dress; and mildly reproves those
whom he finds acting impiously ; particularly such as have a false
reputation for sanctity. Though he is unknown to the world, his
favourite stations are well known ; yet at these places he is seldom
visible. It is asserted that he is almost constantly seated at Mekkeh,
on the roof of the Kaabeh ; and, though never seen there, is always
heard at midnight to call twice, "0 Thou most merciful of those
who shew mercy I"* which cry is then repeated from the mad'nehs of
the temple, by the mueddins : but a respectable pilgrim, whom I
questioned upon this matter, confessed to me that he himself had
witnessed that this cry was made by a regular minister of the mosque ;
yet that few pilgrims knew this : he believed, however, that the roof
of the Kaabeh is the chief "markaz" (or station) of the Kutb.
Another favourite station of this revered and unknown person is the
gate of Cairo called Bab Zuweyleh, which is at the southern extremity
of that part of the metropolis which constituted the old city; though
now in the heart of the town ; for the capital has greatly increased
towards the south, as it has also towards the west. From its being
a supposed station of this mysterious being, the Bab Zuweyleh is
commonly called " El-Mutawellee." 8 One leaf of its great wooden
door (which is never shut), turned back against the eastern side of
the interior of the gateway, conceals a small vacant space, which is
said to be the place of the Kutb. Many persons, on passing by it,
recite the Fat'hah ; and some give alms to a beggar who is generally
seated there, and who is regarded by the vulgar as one of the servants
1 In the plural forms, " Nu^aba," " Angab " or * " Ya arhama-r-rahemeen."
"Nugaba," and "Abdal." For " Bab El-Mutawellee."
SAINTS. 231
of the Kutb. Numbers of persons afflicted with head-ache drive a
nail into the door, to charm away the pain; and many sufferers
from the tooth-ache extract a tooth, and insert it in a crevice of the
door, or fix it in some other way, to insure their not being attacked
again by the same malady. Some curious individuals often try to
peep behind the door, in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of the
Ku^b, should he happen to be there, and not at the moment invisible.
He has also many other stations, but of inferior celebrity, in Cairo ;
as well as one at the tomb of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, at
Tanta; another at El-Mahalleh (which, as well as Tanta, is in the
Delta) ; and others in other places. He is believed to transport
himself from Mekkeh to Cairo in an instant ; and so too from any
one place to another. Though he has a number of favourite stations,
he does not abide solely at these ; but wanders throughout the whole
world, among persons of every religion, whose appearance, dress, and
language he assumes ; and distributes to mankind, chiefly through
the agency ^of the subordinate welees, evils and blessings, the awards
of destiny. When a Kutb dies, he is immediately succeeded in his
office by another.
Many of the Muslims say that Elijah, or Elias, whom the vulgar
confound with El-Khiclr, 1 was the Kutb of his time; and that he
invests the successive kutbs : for they acknowledge that he has never
died ; asserting him to have drunk of the Fountain of Life. This
particular in their superstitious notions respecting the kutbs, and
some other particulars which I have before mentioned, appear to have
been suggested by what we are told, in the Bible, of Elijah, of his
translation, of his being transported from place to place by the Spirit
of God, of his investing Elisha with his miraculous powers and his
offices, and of the subjection of the other prophets to him and to his
immediate successor. 8 Some welees renounce the pleasures of the
world, and the society of mankind ; and, in a desert place, give them-
selves up to meditation upon heaven, and prayer ; depending upon
divine providence for their support : but their retreat becomes known ;
and the Arabs daily bring them food. This, again, reminds us of the
history of Elijah, if, as is the opinion of some critics, we should read,
1 This mysterious person, according to the drunk of the Fountain of Life, in consequence of
more approved opinion of the learned, was not a which he lives till the day of judgment, and to
prophet, but a just man, or saint, the Wezeer and appear frequently to Muslims in perplexity. He
counsellor of the first Zu-1-Karneyn, who was a is generally clad in green garments ; whence, ac-
universal conqueror, but an equally doubtful per- cording to some, his name,
sonage, contemporary with the patriarch Ibra- * See 1 Kings, xviii. 12, and 2 Kings, ii. 916.
heem, or Abraham. El-Kfudr is said to have
232 CHAPTER X.
instead of " ravens/' in the fourth and sixth verses of the seventeenth
chapter of the second book of Kings, " Arabs :" " I have com-
manded the Arabs to feed thee " " And the Arabs brought him
bread/' &c.
Certain welees are said to be commissioned by the Kutb to
perform offices which, according to the accounts of my informants
here, are far from being easy*. These are termed "As-Mb ed-
Darak," interpreted to me (but I know not on what ground) as
meaning "watchmen," or " overseers." 1 In illustration of their
employments, the following anecdote was related to me. A devout
tradesman in this city, who was ardently desirous of becoming a
wclee, applied to a person who was generally believed to belong to
this holy class, and implored the latter to assist him to obtain the
honour of an interview with the Kutb. The applicant, after having
undergone a strict examination as to his motives, was desired to
perform the ordinary ablution (el-wucloo) very early the next morn-
ing; then to repair to the mosque of El-Mu-eiyad (at an angle of
which is the Bb Zuweylch, or El-Mutawellee, before mentioned),
and to lay hold of the first person whom he should see coming out of
the great door of this mosque. He did so. The first person who
came out was an old, venerable-looking man; but meanly clad;
wearing a brown woollen gown (or zaaboot ); and this proved to be
the Kutb. The candidate kissed his hand, and entreated to be
admitted among the As-Mb ed-Darak. After much hesitation, the
prayer was granted: the Kutb said, "Take charge of the district
which consists of the Darb el-Ahmar 2 and its immediate neighbour-
hood /' and immediately the person thus addressed found himself
to be a welee; and perceived that he was acquainted with things
concealed from ordinary mortals : for a welee is said to be acquainted
by God with all secrets necessary for him to know. It is commonly
said of a welee, that he knows what is secret, 3 or not discoverable by
the senses ; which seems plainly contradictory to what we read in
several places in the Kur-an, that none knoweth what is secret (or
hidden from the senses) but God : the Muslims, however, who are
seldom at a loss in a discussion, argue that the passages above
alluded to, in the Kur-^n, imply the knowledge of secrets in an
1 This rendering is agreeable with an explana- A street leading from the Bab Zuweyleh
tion of "darak" by M. Quatremere (In his "His- towards the south-east, and forming a part of
toire des Sultans Mamlouks," vol. i. p. 169), a great thoroughfare-street that extends to the
elicited from a comparison of a number of pas- citadel,
sages In which it occurs. 3 Yaalam cl-gheyb."
SAINTS. 233
unrestricted sense ; and that God imparts to welees such secrets only
as He thinks fit.
The welee above mentioned, as soon as he had entered upon his
office., walked through his district ; and seeing a man at a shop with
a jar full of boiled beans before him, from which he was about to
serve his customers as usual, took up a large piece of stone, and, with
it, broke the jar. The bean -seller immediately jumped up ; seized
hold of a palm-stick that lay by his side; and gave the welee a severe
beating : but the holy man complained not ; nor did he utter a cry :
as soon as he was allowed, he walked away. When he was gone, the
bean-seller began to try if he could gather up some of the scattered
contents of the jar. A portion of the jar remained in its place ; and
on looking into this, he saw a venomous serpent in it, coiled round,
and dead. In horror at what he had done, he exclaimed, " There is
no strength nor power but in God ! I implore forgiveness of God, the
Great. What have I done ! This man is a welee ; and has prevented
my selling what would have poisoned my customers." He looked at
every passenger all that day, in the hope of seeing again the saint
whom he had thus injured, that he might implore his forgiveness ;
but he saw him not ; for he was too much bruised to be able to walk.
On the following day, however, with his limbs still swollen from the
blows he had received, the welee limped through his district, and
broke a great jar of milk at a shop not far from that of the bean-
seller; and its owner treated him as the bean-seller had done the day
before; but while he was beating him, some persons ran up, and
stopped his hand, informing him that the person whom he was thus
punishing was a welee, and relating to him the affair of the serpent
that was found in the jar of beans. " Go, and look," said they, " in
your jar of milk, and you will find, at the bottom of it, something
either poisonous or unclean." He looked; and found, in the remains
of the jar, a dead dog. On the third day, the welee, with the help of
a staff, hobbled painfully up the Darb el-Ahmar, and saw a servant
carrying, upon his head, a supper- tray covered with dishes of meat,
vegetables, and fruit, for a party who were going to take a repast in
the country ; whereupon he put his staff between the man's legs, and
overthrew him ; and the contents of the dishes were scattered in the
street. With a mouth full of curses, the servant immediately began
to give the saint as severe a thrashing as he himself expected to
receive from his disappointed master for this accident : but several
persons soon collected around him; and one of these bystanders
2
234 CHAPTER X.
observed a dog eat part of the contents of .one of the dishes, and, a
moment after, fall down dead : he therefore instantly seized the hand
of the servant, and informed him of this circumstance, which proved
that the man whom he had been beating was a welee. Every apology
was made to the injured saint, with many prayers for his forgiveness :
but he was so disgusted with his new office, that he implored God
and the Kutb to release him from it ; and, in answer to his solicita-
tions, his supernatural powers were withdrawn, and he returned to his
shop, more contented than before. This story is received as true by
the people of Cairo ; and therefore I have inserted it : for, in treating
of superstitions, we have more to do with opinions than with facts. I
am not sure, indeed, that it is altogether false : the supposed saint
might have employed persons to introduce the dead serpent and dog
into the vessels which he broke. I am told that many a person has
obtained the reputation of being a welee by artifices of the kind just
mentioned.
There have been many instances, in Egypt, of welees afflicting
themselves by austerities similar to those which are often practised by
devotees in India. /It the present time there is living, in Cairo, a
welee who has placed an iron collar round his neck, and chained him-
self to a wall of his chamber ; and it is saii that he has been in this
state more than thirty years: but some persons assert that he has
often been seen to cover himself over with a blanket, as if to sleep,
and that the blanket has been removed immediately after, and nobody
found beneath it I Stories of this kind are related and believed by
persons who, in many respects, are endowed with good sense; and to
laugh, or express discredit, on hearing them, would give great offence.
I was lately told that, a certain welee being beheaded, for a crime of
which he was not guilty, his head spoke after it was cut off; 1 and, of
another decapitated under similar circumstances, that his blood traced
upon the ground, in Arabic characters, the following declaration of
his innocence " I am a welee of God ; and have died a martyr."
It is a very remarkable trait in the character of the people
of Egypt and other countries of the East, that Muslims, Christians,
and Jews, adopt each other's superstitions, while they abhor the
leading doctrines of each other's faiths. In sickness, the Muslim
sometimes "employs Christian and Jewish priests to pray for Jiim : the
Christians and Jews, in the same predicament, often call in Muslim
Like that of the Sage Doob&n, whose story is told in " The Thousand and One Nights."
SAINTS. 236
saints for the like purpose. Many Christians are in the frequent habit
of visiting certain Muslim saints here; kissing their hands ; begging
their prayers, counsels, or prophecies ; and giving them money and
other presents.
Though their prophet disclaimed the power of performing miracles,
the Muslims attribute to him many ; and several miracles are still,
they say, constantly or occasionally performed for his sake, as marks
of the divine favour and honour. The pilgrims who have visited El-
Medeeneh relate that there is seen, every night, a ray or column of
faint light rising from the cupola over the grave of the Prophet to a
considerable height, apparently to the clouds, or, as some say, to
Paradise ; but that the observer loses sight of it when he approaches
very near the tomb. 1 This is one of the most remarkable of the
miracles which are related as being still witnessed. On my asking
one of the most grave and sensible of all my Muslim friends her^
who had been on a pilgrimage, and visited El-Medeeneh, whether
this assertion were true, he averred that it was ; that he had seen it
every night of his stay in that city ; and he remarked that it was a
most striking and impressive proof of God's favour and honour for
"our lord Mohammad." I did not presume to question the truth of
what he asserted himself to have seen ; nor to suggest that the great
number of lights kept burning every night in the mosque might
produce this effect : but to judge whether this might be the case, I
asked my friend to describe to me the construction of the apartment
of the tomb, its cupola, &c. He replied, that he did not enter it, nor
the Kaabeh at Mekkeh, partly from his being in a state of excessive
nervous excitement (from his veneration for those holy buildings, but
particularly for the former, which almost affected him with a kind of
hysteric fit), and partly because, being of the sect of the Hanafees, he
held it improper, after he should have stepped upon such sacred
ground, ever again to run the risk of defiling his feet, by walking
barefooted : consequently, he would have been obliged always to wear
leather socks, or mezz, within his outer shoes; which, he said, he
could not afford to do. The pilgrims also assert, that, in approaching
El-Medeeneh, from the distance of three days' journey, or more, they
always see a flickering lightning, in the direction of the sacred city,
which they believe to proceed from the Prophet's tomb. They say,
1 It is also said that similar phenomena, but not so brilliant, distinguish some other tombs at
Kl-Medeeneh and elsewhere.
2S6 . CHAPTER X.
that, however they turn, they always see this lightning in the direc-
tion of El-Medeeneh. There is something strikingly poetical in this
and in the former statement.
A superstitious veneration, and honours unauthorized by the
Kur-&n or any of the Traditions, are paid, by all sects of Muslims,
except the Wahhabees, to deceased saints, even more than to those
who are living; and more particularly by the Muslims of Egypt. 1
Over the graves of most of the more celebrated saints are erected
large and handsome mosques : over that of a saint of less note (one
who, by a life of sanctity or hypocrisy, has acquired the reputation of
being a welee, or devout sheykh,) is constructed a small, square,
whitewashed building, crowned with a cupola. There is generally,
directly over the vault in which the corpse is deposited, an oblong
monument of stone or brick (called " tarkeebeh ") or wood (in which
|ase it is called " taboot ") ; and this is usually covered with silk oi-
lmen, with some words from the Kur-dn worked upon it, and sur-
rounded by a railing or screen, of wood or bronze, called "mak-
soorah." Most of the sanctuaries of saints in Egypt are tombs; but
there are several which only contain some inconsiderable relic of the
person to whom they are dedicated ; and there are a few which are
mere cenotaphs. The most sacred of all these sanctuaries is the
mosque of the Hasaneyn, in which the head of the martyr El-Hoseyn,
the son of the Im&rn 'Alee, and grandson of the Prophet, is said to be
buried. Among others but little inferior in sanctity, are the mosques
of the seyyideh Zeyneb (daughter of the Im&m 'Alee, and grand-
daughter of the Prophet), the seyyideh Sekeeneh (daughter of the
Imam El-IIoseyn), the seyyideh Nefeeseh (great-grand-daughter of
the Imdm El-IJasan), and the Imdm Esh-Shdfe'ee, already mentioned
as the author of one of the four great Muslim persuasions, that to
which most of the people of Cairo belopg. The buildings above
mentioned, with the exception of the last two, are within the metro-
polis : the last but one is in a southern suburb of Cairo; and the last,
in the great southern cemetery.
1 Several superstitious customs, observed in Fat'^ah. It is usual to say, on first seeing the
the performance of many ordinary actions, result new moon, " O God, bless our lord Mohammad,
from their extravagant respect for their prophet, God make thee a blessed moon (or month) :" and
and their saints in .general. For instance, on on looking at one's face in a glass, " God, bless
lighting the lamp in the evening, more particu- our lord Mohammad." This ejaculation being
larly at a shop, it is customary to say, " Cora- used to counteract the influence of the evil eye,
memorate Mohammad, and forget not the excel- it seems as if an Arab feared the effect even of his
lencies of 'Alee : the Fat'hah for the Prophet, own admiring look,
and for every welee:" and then, to repeat the
SAINTS. 237
The Egyptians occasionally visit these and other sanctuaries of
their saints, either merely with the view of paying honour to the
deceased, and performing meritorious acts for the sake of these
venerated persons, which they believe will call down a blessing on
themselves, or for the purpose of urging some special petition, as for
the restoration of health, or for the gift of offspring, &c. ; in the
persuasion that the merits of the deceased will insure a favourable
reception of the prayers which they offer up in such consecrated
places. The generality of the Muslims regard their deceased saints
as intercessors with the Deity; and make votive offerings to them.
The visiter, on arriving at the tomb, should greet the deceased with
the salutation of peace, and should utter the same salutation on
entering the burial-ground ; but I believe that few persons observe
is latter custom. In the former case, the visiter should front the
ice of the dead, and consequently turn his back to the kibleh. HH
walks round the maksoorah or the monument from left to right ; and
recites the FaVhah, inaudibly, or in a very low voice, before its door,
or before each of its four sides. Sometimes a longer chapter of the
Kur-an than the first (or Eat'hah) is recited afterwards : and some-
times a " khatmeh " (or recitation of the whole of the Kur-an) is
performed on such an occasion.. These acts of devotion are generally
performed for the sake of the saint ; though merit is likewise believed
to reflect upon the visiter who makes a recitation. He usually says
at the close of this, " [Extol] the perfection of thy Lord, the Lord of
Might, exempting Him from that which they [that is, the unbe-
lievers,] ascribe to Him " (namely, the having a son, or a partaker of
his godhead) ; and adds, " And peace be on the Apostles ; and praise
be to God, the Lord of the beings of the whole world. God, I
have transferred the merit of what I have recited from the excellent
Kur-an to the person to whom this place is dedicated," or " to the
soul of this welee." Without such a declaration, or an intention to
the same effect, the merit of the recital belongs solely to the person
who performs it. After this recital, the visiter, if it be his desire,
offers up any prayer, for temporal or spiritual blessings ; generally
using some such form as this : " God, I conjure Thee by the
Prophet, and by him to whom this place is dedicated, to grant me
such and such blessings:" or "My burdens be on God and on
thee, thou to whom this place is dedicated." In doing this, some
persons face any side of the maksoorah : it is said to be more proper
to face the maksoorah and the kibleh ; but I believe that the same
238 CHAPTER X.
rule should be observed in this case as in the salutation. During the
prayer, the hands are held as in the private supplications after the
ordinary prayers of every day ; and afterwards they are drawn down
the face. Many of the visiters kiss the threshold of the building,
and the walls, windows, maksoorah, &c. This, however, the more
strict disapprove ; asserting it to be an imitation of a custom of the
Christians. The rich, and persons in easy circumstances, when they
visit the tomb of a saint, distribute money or bread to the poor ; and
often give money to one or more water-carriers to distribute water to
the poor and thirsty, for the sake of the saint. 1 There are particular
days of the week on which certain -tombs are more generally visited :
thus, the mosque of the Hasaneyn is mostly visited, by men, on
Tuesday, and by women, on Saturday : that of the seyyideh Zeyneb,
on Wednesday : that of the Imdm Esh-Shdfe'ee, on Friday. On
these occasions, it is a common custom for the male visiters to take
with them sprigs of myrtle : they place some of these on the monu-
ment, or on the floor within the maksoorah ; and take back the
remainder, which they distribute to their friends. The poor some-
times place " khoos " (or palm-leaves) ; as most persons do upon the
tombs of their friends and relations. The women of Cairo, instead of
the myrtle or palm-leaves, often place roses, flowers of the henna-tree,
jasmine, &c.
At almost every village in Egypt is the tomb of some favourite
or patron saint, which is generally visited, on a particular day of the
week, by many of the inhabitants ; chiefly women ; some of whom
bring thither bread, which they leave there for poor travellers or any
other persons. Some also place small pieces of money in these tombs.
These gifts are offerings to the sheykh ; or given for his sake. An-
other custom common among the peasants is, to make votive sacrifices
at the tombs of their sheykhs. For instance, a man makes a vow
("nedr") that, if he recover from a sickness, or obtain a son, or any
other specific object of desire, he will give, to a certain sheykh
(deceased), a goat, or a lamb, or a sheep, &c. : if he attain his abject,
he sacrifices the animal which he has vowed at the tomb of the
sheykh, and makes a feast with its meat for any persons who may
choose to attend. Having given the animal to the saint, he thus
gives to the latter the merit of feeding the poor. Little kids are often
vowed as future sacrifices ; and have the right ear slit ; or are marked
1 See the account of the water-carriers in Chapter XIV.
SAINTS. 239
in some other way. It is not uncommon, too, without any definite
view but that of obtaining general blessings, to make these vows :
and sometimes, a peasant vows that he will sacrifice, for the sake of a
saint, a calf which he possesses, as soon as it is full-grown and fatted :
it is let loose, by consent of all his neighbours, to pasture where it
will, even in fields of young wheat ; and at last, after it has been
sacrificed, a public feast is made with its flesh. Many a large bull is
thus given away.
Almost every celebrated saint, deceased, is honoured by an
anniversary birthday festival, which is called " moolid," or, more
properly, " molid." On the occasions of such festivals, many persons
visit the tomb, both as a duty and as a supposed means of obtaining
a special blessing ; fikees are hired to recite the Kur-an, for the sake
of the saint ; fakeers often perform zikrs ; and the people living in
the neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before their doors, and
devote half the night to such pleasures as those of smoking, sipping
coffee, and listening to story-tellers at the coffee-shops, or to the
recitals of the Kur-dn, and the zikrs. 1 have now a cluster of lamps
hanging before my door, in honour of the moolid of a sheykh who is
buried near the house in which I am living. Even the native
Christians often hang up lamps on these occasions. The festivities
often continue several days. The most famous moolids celebrated
In Cairo, next to that of the Prophet, are those of the Irlasaneyn
and the seyyideh Zeyneb; accounts of which will be found in a
subsequent chapter, on the periodical public festivals, &c., of the
people of Egypt. Most of the Egyptians not only expect a blessing
to follow their visiting the tomb of a celebrated saint, but they also
dread that some misfortune will befall them if they neglect this act.
Thus, while I am writing these lines, an acquaintance of mine is
suffering from an illness which he attributes to his having neglected,
for the last two years, to attend the festivals of the seyyid Ahmad
El-Bedawee, at Tanta ; this being the period of one of these festivals.
The tomb of this saint attracts almost as many visiters, at the periods
of the great annual festivals, from the metropolis, and from various
parts of Lower Egypt, as Mekkeh does pilgrims from the whole of
the Muslim world. Three moolids are celebrated in honour of him
every year; one, about the tenth of the Coptic month of Toobeh (17th
or 18th of January) ; the second, at, or about, the Vernal Equinox j 1
1 Called the " Shems el-Kebeereh."
240 CHAPIER X.
and the third, or great moolid, about a month after the Summer
Solstice (or about the middle of the Coptic month of Ebeeb), when
the Nile has risen considerably, but the dams of the canals are not
yet cut. Each lasts one week and a day; beginning on a Friday,
and ending on the afternoon of the next Friday ; and, on each night,
there is a display of fireworks. One week after each of these, is
celebrated the moolid of the seyyid IbrAheem Ed-Dasookee, at the
town of Dasook, otf the east bank of the western branch of the Nile.
The seyyid Ibrheem was a very famous saint ; next in rank to the
seyyid El-Bedawee. These moolids, both of the seyyid El-Bedawee
and of the seyyid Ibrheem, are great fairs, as well as religious
festivals. At the latter, most of the visiters remain in their boats ;
and some of the Saadeeyeh darweeshes of Rasheed exhibit their feats
with serpents : some carrying serpents with silver rings in their
mouths, to prevent their biting: others partly devouring these
reptiles alive. The religious ceremonies at both are merely zikrs, 1
and recitals of the Kur-an. It is customary among the Muslims, as
it was among the Jews, to rebuild, whitewash, and decorate, the tombs
of their saints, and occasionally to put a new covering over the tarkeebeh
or tboot ; and many of them do this from the same pharisaic motives
which actuated the Jews. 2
" Darweeshes" are very numerous in Egypt; and some of them
who confine themselves to religious exercises, and subsist by alms,
are much respected in this country ; particularly by the lower orders.
Various artifices are employed by persons of this class to obtain the
reputation of superior sanctity, and of being endowed with the power
of performing miracles. Many of them are regarded as welees.
A direct descendant of Aboo-Bekr, the first Khaleefeh, having
the title of "Esh-Sheykh el-Bekree," and regarded as the representa-
tive of that prince, holds authority over all orders of darweeshes in
Egypt. The present Sheykh el-Bekree, who is also descended from
the Prophet, is Nakeeb el-Ashrfif, or chief of the ShereeFs. The
second Khaleefeh, 'Omar, has likewise his representative, who is the
sheykh of the 'Enaneeyeh, or OwMd 'Erian, an order of darweeshes
so named from one of their celebrated sheykhs, Ibn-'Endn. 'Osmdn
has no representative, having left no issue. The representative of 'Alee
is called Sheykh es-Saddt, 8 or Sheykh of the Seyyids, or Shereefs ; a
1 The "zikr" will be fully described in another 8 Often improperly called "esh-Sheykh es-
ohapter, on the periodical public festivals, &c. S^dat " v
* See St. Matthew, xxiii. 29.
DARWEESHES. 241
title of less importance than that of Nakeeb of the Shereefs. Each of
these three sheykhs is termed the occupant of the " seggadeh " (or
prayer-carpet) of his great ancestor. So too the sheykh of an order
of darweeshes is called the occupant of the seggadeh of the founder
of the order. 1 The seggadeh is considered as the spiritual throne.
There are four great seggadehs of darweeshes in Egypt ; which are
those of four great orders about to be mentioned.
The most celebrated orders of darweeshes in Egypt are the follow-
ing. 1. The Rifa'eeyeh " (in the singular Rifa'ee "). This order
was founded by the seyyid Ahmad Rifa'ah El-Kebeer. Its banners,
and the turbans of its members, are black ; or the latter are of a very
deep-blue woollen stuff, or muslin of a very dark greenish hue. The
Rifa'ee darweeshes are celebrated for the performance of many
wonderful feats. 2 The " 'Ilwaneeyeh," or " Owlad 'Ilwan," who are
a sect of the Rifa/ees, pretend to thrust iron spikes into their eyes
and bodies without sustaining any injury ; and in appearance they do
this, in such a manner as to deceive any person who can believe it
possible for a man to do such things in reality. They also break
large masses of stone on their chests ; eat live coals, glass, &c. ; and
are said to pass swords completely through their bodies, and packing-
needles through both their cheeks, without suffering any pain, or
leaving any wound : but such performances are now seldom witnessed.
I am told that it was a common practice for a darweesh of this order
to hollow out a piece of the trunk of a palm-tree, fill it with rags
soaked with oil and tar, then set fire to these contents, and carry the
burning mass under his arm, in a religious procession (wearing only
drawers) ; the flames curling over his bare chest, back, and head, and
apparently doing him no injury. The " Saadeeyeh," an order
founded by the sheykh Saad-ed-Deen El-GibaVee, are another and
more celebrated sect of the Rifa'ees. Their banners are green ; and
their turbans, of the same colour or of the dark hue of the Rifa'ees
in general. There are many darweeshes of this order who handle,
with impunity, live, venomous serpents, and scorpions;, and partly
devour them. The serpents, however, they render incapable of doing
any injury, by extracting their venomous fangs ; and doubtless they
also deprive the scorpions of their poison. On certain occasions (as,
for instance, on that of the festival of the birth of the Prophet), the
Sheykh of the Saadeeyeh rides, on horseback, over the bodies of a
i The title is "siheb seggadeh." darweeshes of Egypt are inferior to the most
8 In most of their juggling performances, the expert of the Indians.
242 CHAPTER X.
number of his darweeshes, and other persons, who throw themselves
on the ground for the purpose; and all assert that they are not
injured by the tread of the horse. 1 This ceremony is called the
" d6seh." Many Rifd'ee and Saadee darweeshes obtain their liveli-
hood by going about to charm away serpents from houses. Of the
feats of these modern Psylli, an account will be given in another
chapter. 2. The " Kddireeyeh f an order founded by the famous
seyyid 'Abd-El-Kddir El-Geeldnee. Their banners and turbans are
white. Most of the K&direeyeh of Egypt are fishermen : these, in
religious processions, carry, upon poles, nets of various colours
(green, yellow, red, white, &c.), as the banners of their order.
3. The " Ahmedeeyeh," or order of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee,
whom I have lately mentioned. This is a very numerous and highly
respected order. Their banners and turbans are red. The " Beiyoo-
meeyeh " (founded by the seyyid 'Alee El-Beiyoomee), the " Shaara-
weeyeh " (founded by the sheykh Esh-Shaarawee 2 ), the " Shinna-
weeyeh " (founded by the seyyid 'Alee Esh-Shinnawee), and many'
other orders, are sects of the Ahmedeeyeh. The Shinnaweeyeh train
an ass to perform a strange part in the ceremonies of the last day of
the moolid of their great patron saint, the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee,
at Tan^a : the ass, of its own accord, enters the mosque of the seyyid,
proceeds to the tomb, and there stands while multitudes crowd around
it, and each person who can approach near enough to it plucks off
some of its hair, to use as a charm, until the skin of the poor beast is
as bare as the palm of a man's hand. There is another sect of the
Ahmedeeyeh, called "Owl&d Nooh/' all young men; who wear
" tartoors " (or high caps), with a tuft of pieces of various-coloured
cloth on the top, wooden swords, and numerous strings of beads ;
and carry a kind of whip (called "firkilleh "), a thick twist of cords.
4 The "Bar&himeh," or " Burh&meeyeh ;" the order of the
seyyid Ibrheem Ed-Dasookee, whose moolid has been mentioned
above. Their banners and turbans are green. There are many
other classes of darweeshes ; some of whom are sects of one or other
of the above orders. Among the more celebrated of them are the
" JJefndweeyeh," the " 'Afeefeeyeh," the Demirddsheeyeh/' the
" Nakshibendeeyeh/' the " Bekreeyeh," and the " Leyseeyeh."
It is impossible to become acquainted with all the tenets, rules,
i In the chapters on the periodical public festi- * Thus commonly pronounced, for Esh-Sha^-
valg, &c., this and other performances of the dar- ranee,
weeahes of Cairo will be described more fully.
DARWEESHKS. 243
and ceremonies of the darweeshes, as many of them, like those of
the freemasons, are not to be divulged to the uninitiated. A darweesh
with whom I am acquainted thus described to me his taking the
" 'ahd," or initiatory covenant, which is nearly the same in all the
orders. He was admitted by the sheykh of the Demirdasheeyeh.
Having first performed the ablution preparatory to prayer (the
wudoo), he seated himself upon the ground before the sheykh, who
was seated in like manner. The sheykh and he (the " mureed," or
candidate,) then clasped their right hands together in the manner
which I have described as practised in making the marriage-contract :
in this attitude, and with their hands covered by the sleeve of" the
sheykh, the candidate took the covenant; repeating, after the sheykh,
the following words, commencing with the form of a common oath of
repentance. " I beg forgiveness of God, the Great " (three times) ;
" than whom there is no other deity ; the Living, the Everlasting : I
turn to Him with repentance, and beg his grace, and forgiveness, and
exemption from the fire." The sheykh then said to him, " Dost
thou turn to God with repentance ?" He replied, " I do turn to
God with repentance ; and I return unto God ; and I am grieved for
what I have done [amiss] ; and I determine not to relapse :" and
then repeated, after the sheykh, " I beg for the favour of God, the
Great, and the noble Prophet; and I take as my sheykh, and my
guide unto God (whose name be exalted), my master 'Abd-Er-Raheem
Ed-Demird&shee El-Khalwetee Er-Rifa'ee En-Nebawee; not to
change, nor to separate ; and God is our witness : by God, the
Great \" (this oath was repeated three times) : " there is no deity
but God " (this also was repeated three times). The sheykh and the
mureed then recited the F&t'hah together ; and the latter concluded
the ceremony by kissing the sheykh's hand.
The religious exercises of the darweeshes chiefly consist in the
performance of " zikrs." Sometimes standing in the form of a
circular or an oblong ring, or in two rows, facing each other, and
sometimes sitting, they exclaim, or chant, " La ilaha illa-llah "
(There is no deity but God), or "Allffli! Allah! AMh !" (God!
God ! God !), or repeat other invocations, &c., over and over again,
until their strength is almost exhausted ; accompanying their ejacula-
tions or chants with a motion of the head, or of the whole body, or of
the arms. From long habit they are able to continue these exercises
for a surprising length of time without intermission. They are often
accompanied, at intervals, by one or more players upon a kind of
244 CHAPTER X.
flute called " n&y," or a double reed-pipe, called " arghool," and by
persons singing religious odes; and some darweeshes use a little
drum, called "bdz," 1 or a tambourine, during their zikrs: some,
also, perform a peculiar dance ; the description of which, as well as of
several different zikrs, I reserve for future chapters.
Some of the rites of darweeshes (as forms of prayer, modes of
zikr, &c.,) are observed only by particular orders : others, by members
of various orders. Among the latter may be mentioned the rites of
the "Khalwetees" and "Sh&zilees;" two great classes, each of
which has its sheykh. The chief difference between these is that,
each has its particular form of prayer to repeat every morning ; and
that the former distinguish themselves by occasional seclusion ;
whence their appellation of " Khalwetees :" 2 the prayer of this class
is repeated before day-break, and is called "wird es-sahar :" that of
the Shdzilees, which is called "hezb esh-Shazilee," after day-break.
Sometimes, a Khalwetee enters a solitary cell, and remains in it for
forty days and nights, fasting from day-break till sunset the whole of
this period. Sometimes also a number of the same class confine
themselves, each in a separate cell, in the sepulchral mosque of the
sheykh Ed-Demirdashee, on the north of Cairo, and remain there
three days and nights, on the occasion of the moolid of that saint, and
only eat a little rice, and drink a cup of sherbet, in the evening : they
employ themselves in repeating certain forms of prayer, &c. not
imparted to the uninitiated; only coming out of their cells to unite
in the five daily prayers in the mosque ; and never answering any one
who speaks to them but by saying, "There is no deity but God."
Those who observe the forty days' fast, and seclude themselves during
that long period, practise nearly the same rules ; and employ their
time in repeating the testimony of the faith, imploring forgiveness,
praising God, &c.
Almost all the darweeshes of Egypt are tradesmen or artisans or
agriculturists ; and only occasionally assist in the rites and ceremonies
of their respective orders : but there are some who have no other
occupations than those of performing zikrs at the festivals of saints
and at private entertainments, and of chanting in funeral-processions.
These are termed " fukara," or " fakeers ;" which is an appellation
given also to the poor in general, but especially to poor devotees.
1 For descriptions of the instruments here men- music, &c.
tioned, see a subsequent chapter, on the Egyptian * From " khalwch," a cell, or closet.
DARWEESHES. 245
Some obtain their livelihood as water-carriers, by supplying the pas-
sengers in the streets of Cairo, and the visiters at religious festivals,
with water, which they carry in an earthen vessel, or a goat's skin,
on the back. A few lead a wandering life, and subsist on alms ;
which they often demand with great importunacy and effrontery.
Some of these distinguish themselves in the same manner as certain
reputed saints before mentioned, by the " dilk," or coat of patches,
and the staff with shreds of cloth of different colours attached to the
top : others wear fantastic dresses of various descriptions.
Some Bifa'ee darweeshes (besides those who follow the occupation
of charming away serpents from houses) pursue a wandering life;
travelling about Egypt, and profiting by a ridiculous superstition
which I must here mention. A venerated saint, called See l Dd-ood
El-'Azab (or Master David the Bachelor), who lived at Tefdhineh, a
village in Lower Egypt, had a calf, which always attended him, and
brought him water, &c. Since his death, some Rifa'ee darweeshes
have been in the habit of rearing a number of calves at his native
place, or burial-place, above named ; teaching them to walk up stairs,
to lie down at command, &c. ; and then going about the country,
each with his calf, to obtain alms. The calf is called " 'Eg! El-'Azab ''
(the Calf of El-'Azab, or of the Bachelor). I once called into my
house one of these darweeshes, with his calf, the only one I have
seen : it was a buffalo-calf; and had two bells suspended to it; one
attached to a collar round its neck, and the other to a girth round its
body. It walked up the stairs very well ; but shewed that it had not
been very well trained in every respect. The 'Egl El-'Azab is vul-
garly believed to bring into the house a blessing from the saint after
whom it is called.
There are numerous wandering Turkish and Persian darweeshes in
Egypt ; and to these, more than to the few Egyptian darweeshes who
lead a similar life, must the character for impudence and importunacy
be ascribed. Very often, particularly in Ramadan, a foreign darweesh
goes to the mosque of the Ilasaneyn, which is that most frequented by
the Turks and Persians, at the time of the Friday-prayers ; and, when
the Khateeb is reciting the first khutbeh, passes between the ranks of
persons who are sitting upon the floor, and places before each a little
slip of paper upon which are written a few words, generally exhorta-
i " See " is a vulgar contraction of " Secdec," which is itself a contraction of 4< Soyyidee," signifying
'* My Master," or " Mister."
246 CHAPTER X.
tive to charity (as " He who giveth alms will be provided for "
" The poor darweesh asketh an alms/' &c.) ; by which proceeding he
usually obtains from each, or almost every person, a piece of five or
ten faddahs, or more. Many of the Persian darweeshes in Egypt
carry an oblong bowl of cocoa-nut or wood or metal, in which they
receive their alms, and put their food; and a wooden spoon; and
most of the foreign darweeshes wear dresses peculiar to their respective
orders : they are chiefly, distinguished by the cap : the most common
description of cap is of a sugar-loaf, or conical, shape, and made of
felt : the other articles of dress are generally a vest and full drawers,
or trousers, or a shirt and belt, and a coarse cloak, or long coat. The
Persians here all affect to be Sunnees. The Turks are the more
intrusive of the two classes.
Here I may mention another superstition of the Egyptians, and
of the Arabs in general : namely, their belief that birds and beasts
have a language by which they communicate their thoughts to each
other, and celebrate the praises of God.
CHAPTER XL
SUPERSTITIONS- continued.
ONE of the most remarkable traits in modern Egyptian superstition
is the belief in written charms. The composition of most of these
amulets is founded upon magic ; and occasionally employs the pen of
almost every village-schoolmaster in Egypt. A person of this pro-
fession, however, seldom pursues the study of magic further than to
acquire the formulae of a few charms, most commonly consisting, for
the greater part, of certain passages of the Kur-dn, and names of God,
together with those of angels, genii, prophets, or eminent saints,
intermixed with combinations of numerals, and with diagrams, all of
which are supposed to have great secret virtues.
The most esteemed of all " hegabs" (or charms) is a "mus-haf"
(or copy of the Kur-a*n). It used to be the general custom of the
Turks of the middle and higher orders, and of many other Muslims,
to wear a small mus-haf in an embroidered leather or velvet case
hung upon the right side by a silk string which passed over the left
shoulder: but this custom is not now very common. During my
first visit to this country, a respectable Turk, in the military dress,
was seldom seen without a case of this description upon his side,
though it often contained no hegab. The nms-haf and other hegabs
are still worn by many women ; generally enclosed in cases of gold,
or of gilt or plain silver. To the former, and to many other charms,
most extensive efficacy is attributed ; they are esteemed preservatives
against disease, enchantment, the evil eye, and a variety of other
evils. The charm next in point of estimation to the mus-haf is a
book or scroll containing certain chapters of the Kur-dn ; as the 6th,
18th, 36th, 44th, 55th, 67th, and 78th ; or some others ; generally
seven. Another charm, which is believed to protect the wearer (who
usually places it within his cap) from the devil and all evil genii, and
many other objects of fear, is a piece of paper inscribed with the
24S CHAPTER XI.
following passages from the Kur-an, 1 " And the preservation of both
[heaven and earth] is no burden unto Him : and He is the High, the
Great" (ch. ii. v. 256). " But God is the best protector ; and He is
the most merciful of those who shew mercy " (ch. xii. v. 64). " They
watch him by the command of God" (ch. xiii. v. 12). "And we
guard them from every devil driven away with stones " (ch. xv. v. 17).
"And a guard against every rebellious devil " (ch. xxxvii. v. 7).
" And a guard. This is the decree of the Mighty, the Wise " (ch. Ixi.
v. 11). "And God encompasseth them behind. Verily it is a glorious
Kur-&n, [written] on & preserved tablet" (ch. Ixxxv. vv. 20, 21, 22).
The ninety-nine names, or epithets, of God, comprising all the
divine attributes, if frequently repeated, and written on a paper, and
worn on the person, are supposed to make the wearer a particular
object for the exercise of all the beneficent attributes. In like
manner it is believed that the ninety-nine names, or titles, &c., of
the Prophet, written upon anything, compose a charm which (accord-
ing to his own assertion, as recorded by his cousin and son-in-law the
Im&m 'Alee,) will, if placed in a house, and frequently read from
beginning to end, keep away every misfortune, pestilence and all
diseases, infirmity, the envious eye, enchantment, burning, ruin,
anxiety, grief, and trouble. After repeating each of these names, the
Muslim adds, " God bless and save him I"* Similar virtues are
ascribed to a charm composed of the names of the " As-hdb el-Kahf "
(or Companions of the Cave, also called the Seven Sleepers), together
with the name of their dog. 3 These names are sometimes engraved
in the bottom of a drinking-cup, and more commonly on the round
tray of tinned copper which, placed on a stool, forms the table for
dinner, supper, &c. Another charm, supposed to have similar
efficacy, is composed of the names of those paltry articles of property
which the Prophet left at his decease. These relics* were two
"sebhahs" (or rosaries), his "mus-haf" (in unarranged fragments),
his " muk-hulah " (or the vessel in which he kept the black powder
* Called " ayat el-hef? " (the verses of prolee- to Cairo : for it is believed that the profession of
tion, or preservation). the faith cannot remain incomplete: so that by
Just before I quitted my house in Cairo to my keeping the latter half always upon my person,
return to England, a friend, who had been my it would bring me back to the former half,
sheykh (or tutor), wrote on a slip of paper, These, it is said, were Christian youths of
" There is no deity but God Mohammad is God's Ephesus, who took refuge from the persecution
apostle :" then tore it in halves, gave me the of the emperor Decius in a cave, and slept there,
latter half (on which was written "Mohammad guarded by their dog, for the space of 300 [solar}
is God's apostle"), and concealed the other in a or 309 [lunar] years. (See the ur-an, chap,
crack in the roof of a little cupboard in my u&ual xviii.)
sitting-room. This was to insure my coming back 4 Called " mukhallafat en-nebee."
CHAKMS. 249
with which he painted the edges of his eyelids), two " seggadehs "
(or prayer carpets), a hand-mill, a staff, a tooth-stick, a suit of
clothes, 1 the ewer which he used in ablution, a pair of sandals, a
"burdeh " (or a kind of woollen covering), 8 three mats, a coat of mail,
a long woollen coat, his white mule " ed-duldul," and his she-camel
" el-'adba." Certain verses of the Kur-an are also written upon slips
of paper, and worn upon the person as safeguards against various
evils, and to procure restoration to health, love and friendship, food,
&c. These and other charms, enclosed in cases of gold, silver, tin,
leather, or silk, &c., are worn by many of the modern Egyptians,
men, women, and children.
It is very common to see children in this country with a charm
against the evil ^/.enclosed in a case, generally of a triangular
form, attached to the top of the cap ; and horses often have similar
appendages. The Egyptians take many precautions against the evil
eye ; and anxiously endeavour to avert its imagined consequences.
When a person expresses what is considered improper or envious
admiration of anything, he is generally reproved by the individual
whom he has thus alarmed, who says to him, a Bless the Prophet!" 4
and if the envier obeys, saying, " God, bless him !"* no ill effects
are apprehended. It is considered very improper for a person to
express his admiration of another, or of any object which is not his
own property, by saying, "God preserve us ! m " How pretty \" or,
" Very pretty !" The most approved expression in such cases is
"Ma snaa-Hah!" (or "What God willeth [cometh to pass!"]);
which implies both admiration, and submission to, or approval of,
the will of God. A person who has exclaimed " How pretty !" or
used similar words, is often desired to say, rather, " Md shaa-llah \"
as well as to bless the Prophet. In the second chapter of this work a
remarkable illustration has been given of the fear which mothers in
1 A shirt which is said to have been worn by It was used by him, as burdehs are at present,
the Prophet is preserved in the mosque of El- both to envelop the body by day, and as a night-
Ghooree, in Cairo, It is wrapped in a Kashmeer covering, I may be excused for remarking 1 here
shawl ; and not shewn to any but persons of very (as it seems to be unknown to some Arabic
high rank. scholars) that the terms "akhdar *' and " ahmar,"
8 The "burdeh," which is worn by some of the which are applied by different historians to the
peasants in Egypt, is an oblong piece of thick Prophet's burdeh, are used to signify respectively
woollen stuff, resembling the " heram," except in grey and broivn, as well as green and red.
colour, being generally brown or greyish. It ap- 3 This superstition explains many customs
pears to have been, in earlier times, always striped ; which would otherwise seem unaccountable,
but some modern burdehs are plain, and others * " Bailee 'a-n-nebee," for " 'ala-n-nebee."
have stripes so narrow and near together, that at a 5 " Allahum (for Allahumma) sallee 'aleyh."
little distance the stuff appears to be of one colour. 6 The ejaculation which I thus translate is
The Prophet's is described as about seven feet " Yaselam," or "Yaselamusellirn." "Es-Selam"
and a half in length, and four and a half in width. is one of the names of the Deity.
2 K
260 CHAPTER XL.
Egypt entertain of the effect of the evil eye upon their children. It
is the custom in this country, when a person takes the child of
another into his arms, to say, "In the name of God, the Com-
passionate, the Merciful :" and, " O God, bless our k>rd Moham-
mad :" and then to add, " Ma" shaa-llah !" It is also a common
custom of the people of Egypt, when admiring a child, to say, " I
seek refuge with the Lord of the Day-break for thee :" alluding to
the Chapter of the Day-break (the 113th chapter of the Kur-an) ; in
the end of which, protection is implored against the mischief of the
envious. The parents, when they see a person stare at, or seem
to envy, their young offspring, sometimes cut off a piece of the
skirts of his clothes, burn it with a little salt (to which some add
coriander-seed, alum, &c.), and fumigate with the smoke, and
sprinkle with the ashes, the child or children. This, it is said,
should be done a little before sunset, when the sun becomes red.
^Uum is very generally used, in the following manner, by the
people of Egypt, to counteract the effects of the evil eye. A piece
of about the size of a walnut is placed upon burning coals, and
left until it has ceased to bubble. This should be done a short time
before sunset; and the person who performs the operation should
repeat three times, while the alum is burning, the first chapter
of the Iur-dn, and the last three chapters of the same ; all of which
are very short. On taking the alum off the fire, it will be found (we
are told) to have assumed the form of the person whose envy or
malice has given occasion for this process*: it is then to be pounded,
put into some food, and given to a black dog, to be eaten. I have
once seen this done, by a man who suspected his wife of having
looked upon him with an evil eye ; and in this case, the alum did
assume a form much resembling that of a woman, in what the man
declared was a peculiar posture in which his wife was accustomed to
sit. But the shape which the alum takes depends almost entirely
upon the disposition of the coals ; and can hardly be such that the
imagination may not see in it some resemblance to a human being.
Another supposed mode of obviating the effects of the envious eye
is, to prick a paper with a needle, saying, at the same time, " This is
the eye of such a one, the envier;" and then to burn the paper.
Alum is esteemed a very efficacious charm against the evil eye :
"sometimes, a small, flat piece of it, ornamented with tassels, is hung
to the top of a child's cap. A tassel of little sheila and beads is also
used in the same mariner, and for .the same purpose. The small
CHARMS. 251
shells called cowries are especially considered preservatives against the
evil eye; and hence, as well as for the sake of ornament, they are
often attached to the trappings of camels, horses, and other animals,
and sometimes to the caps of children. Such appendages are evi-
dently meant to attract the eye to themselves, and so to prevent
observation and envy of the object which they are designed to
protect.
To counteract the effects of the evil eye, many persons in Egypt,
but mostly women, make use of what is called " niey'ah mubdrakah "
(or blessed storax), which is a mixture of various ingredients that will
be mentioned below, prepared and sold only during the first ten days
of the month of Moharram. During this period we often see, in the
streets of Cairo, men carrying about this mixture of mey'ah, &c., for
sale; and generally crying some such words as the following
"Mey'ah mubarakah! A new year and blessed 'Ashoora ! l The
most blessed of years [may this be] to the believers! Ya niey'ah
mubarakah 1" The man who sells it bears upon his head a round
tray, covered with different-coloured sheets of paper, red, yellow, &c. ;
upon which is placed the valued mixture. In the middle is a large
heap of "tifl" (or refuse) of a dark reddish material for dyeing,
mixed with a little " mey'ah " (or storax), coriander-seed, 8 and seed
of the fennel-flower : 3 round this large heap are smaller heaps : one
consisting of salt dyed blue with indigo ; another, of salt dyed red ;
a third, of salt dyed yellow ; a fourth, of " sheeh " (a kind of worm-
wood) ; a fifth, of dust of "liban " (or frankincense). These are all
the ingredients of the " niey'ah mubarakah." The seller is generally
called into the house of the purchaser. Having placed his tray before
him, and received a plate, or a piece of paper, in which to put the
quantity to be purchased, he takes a little from one heap, then from
another, then from a third, and so on, until he has taken some from
each heap ; after which, again and again, he takes an additional
quantity from each kind. While he does this, he chants a long spell,
generally commencing thus : " In the name of God ! and by God !
There is no conqueror that conquereth God, the Lord of the East and
the West : we are all his servants : we must acknowledge his unity :
his unity is an illustrious attribute." After some words on the
virtues of salt, he proceeds to say, " I charm thee from the eye of
girl, sharper than a spike ; and from the eye of woman, sharper than
1 This is the name of the tenth day of Mo- * 2 " Kuzbarah."
harram. * " Habbeh 8<hla," or "habbet el-barakeh."
252 CHAPTER XI.
a pruning-knife ; and from the eye of boy, more painful than a whip ;
and from the eye of man, sharper than a chopping-knife ;" and so on.
Then he relates how Solomon deprived the evil eye of its influence ;
and afterwards enumerates every article of property that the house is
likely to contain, and that the person who purchases his wonderful
mixture may be conjectured to possess; all of which he charms
against the influence of the eye. Many of the expressions which
he employs in this spell are very ridiculous : words being introduced
merely for the sake of rhyme. The mey'ah mubarakah, a handful of
which may be purchased for five faddahs, 1 is treasured up by the
purchaser during the ensuing year ; and whenever it is feared that a
child or other person is affected by the evil eye, a little of it is thrown
upon some burning coals in a chafing-dish; and the smoke which
results is generally made to ascend upon the supposed sufferer.
It is a custom among the higher and middle classes in Cairo, on
the occasion of a marriage, to hang chandeliers in the street before
the bridegroom's house; and it often happens that a crowd is
collected to see a very large and handsome chandelier suspended : in
this case, it is a common practice to divert the attention of the
spectators by throwing down and breaking a large jar, or by some
other artifice, lest an envious eye should cause the chandelier to fall.
Accidents which confirm the Egyptians in their superstitions respect-
ing the evil eye often occur : for instance, a friend of mine has just
related to me, that, a short time ago, he saw a camel carrying two
very large jars of oil: a woman stopped before it, and exclaimed,
" God preserve us ! What large jars !" The conductor of the
camel did not tell her to bless the Prophet; and the camel, a few
minutes after, fell, and broke both the jars, and one of its own legs.
While writing these notes on modern Egyptian superstitions, I
have been amused by a complaint of one of my Masree 8 friends,
which will serve to illustrate what I have just stated. " The Basba,"
lie said, " having, a few days ago, given up his monopoly of the
meat, the butchers now slaughter for their own shops; and 'it is quite
shocking to see fine sheep hung up in the streets, quite whole, tail 8
and all, before the public eye ; so that every beggar who passes by
envies them; and one might, therefore, as well eat poison as such
meat." My cook has made the same complaint to me ; and, rather
than purchase from one of the shops near at hand, takes the trouble
i Equivalent to about a farthing and one-fifth. 3 The fat of the tail is esteemed a dainty.
s Thi4 is, Caireen,
CHARMS. 253
of going to one in a distant quarter, kept by a man who conceals his
meat from the view of the passengers in the street.
Many of the tradesmen of the metropolis, and of other towns of
Egypt, place over their shops (generally upon the hanging shutter
which is turned up in front) a paper inscribed with the name of God,
or that of the Prophet, or both, or the profession of the faith (" There
is no deity but God : Mohammad is God's Apostle *'), the words " In
the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful/' or some maxim
of the Prophet, or a verse of the Kur-dn (as, " Verily we have granted
thee a manifest victory " [ch. xlviii. v. 1], and " Assistance from
God, and a speedy victory : and do thou bear good tidings to the
believers " [ch. Ixi. v. 13]}, or an invocation to the Deity, such as,
" Thou Opener [of the doors of prosperity, or subsistence] ! O
Thou Wise ! Thou Supplier of our wants ! O Thou Bountiful \ m
This invocation is often pronounced by the tradesman when he first
opens his shop in the morning, and by the pedestrian vender of small
commodities, bread, vegetables, Sec., when he sets out on his daily
rounds. It is a custom also among the lower orders to put the first
piece of money that they receive in the day to the lips and forehead
before putting it in the pocket.
Besides the inscriptions over shops, we often see, in Cairo, the
invocation " God !"* sculptured over the door of a private house ;
and the words " The Great Creator is the Everlasting," or " He is
the Great Creator, the Everlasting," painted in large characters upon
the door, both as a charm, and to remind the master of the house,
whenever he enters it, of his own mortality. 8 These words are often
inscribed upon the door of a house when its former master, and
many or all of its former inhabitants, have been removed by death.
The most approved mode of charming away sickness or disease
is to write certain passages of the Kur-^n 4 on the inner surface of an
earthenware cup or bowl; then to pour in some water, and stir it
until the writing is quite .washed off; when the water, with the sacred
words thus infused in it, is to be drunk by the patient. These
words are as follow : " And He will heal the breasts of the people
who believe'' (ch. ix. v. 14). "0 men, now hath an admonition
come unto you from your Lord ; and a remedy for what is in your
1 " Yd fettah ! Yd 'aleem ! Yd rezsak ! Yd 3 Sec the engraving of a door with this inscrip-
kereem !" tkm inserted in the Introduction.
2 "Yd Allah!" * Called "ayat esh-shife" (the verses of re-
storation).
254 CHAPTER XI.
breasts " (ch. x. v. 58), "Wherein is a remedy for men" (ch. xvi.
v. 71). "We send down, of the K!ur-&n, that which is a remedy
and mercy to the believers" (ch. xvii. v. 84). "And when I am
sick He healeth me" (ch. xxii. v. 80). "Say, It is, to those who
believe, a guide and a remedy" (ch. xli. v. 44)* Four of these
verses, notwithstanding they are thus used, refer not to diseases of the
body, but of the mind; and another (the third) alludes to the virtues
of honey ! On my applying to my sheykh (or tutor) to point out to
me in what chapters these verses were to be found, he begged me not
to translate them into my own language ; because the translation of
the Iur-&n, unaccompanied by the original text, is prohibited : not
that he seemed ashamed of the practice of employing these words as
a charm, and did not wish my countrymen to be informed of the
custom : for he expressed his full belief in their efficacy, even in the
case of an infidel patient, provided he had proper confidence in their
virtue; "Seeing," he observed, "that the Prophet (God bless and
save him) has said, ' If thou confide in God, with true confidence,
He will sustain thee as He sustaineth the birds/ " I silenced his
scruples on the subject of translating these verses by telling him that
we had an English translation of the whole of the Kur-an. Some-
times, for the cure of diseases, and to counteract poisons, &c., a
draught of water from a metal cup, having certain passages of the
Iur-&n, and talismanic characters and figures, engraved in the interior,
is administered to the patient. I have a cup of this description, lately
given to me 1 here (in Cairo), much admired by my Muslim acquaint-
ances. On the exterior is an inscription enumerating its virtues :
it is said to possess charms that will counteract all poisons, &c., and
the evil eye, and cure " sicknesses and diseases, except the sickness
of death." I have seen, here, another cup which appeared to have
been exactly similar to that above mentioned; but its inscriptions
were partly effaced. The secret virtues of the Kur-dn 2 are believed
to be very numerous. One day, on my refusing to eat of a dish that
I feared would do me harm, I was desired to repeat the Soorat Kureysh
(106th chapter of the Kur-&n) to the end of the words " supplieth
them with food against hunger;" and to repeat these last words
three times. This, I was assured, would be a certain preventive of
any harm that I might have feared.
.There are various things which are regarded in the same light as
By Robert Hay, ES<I., who purchased it from a peasant at Thebes. * " Asr&r el-Jur-in."
CHARMS. 255
written charms ; such as dust from the tomb of the Prophet, water
from the sacred well of Zemzem, in the Temple of Mekkeh, and pieces
of the black brocade covering of the Kaabeh. 1 The water of Zemzem
is much valued for the purpose of sprinkling upon grave-clothes.
An Arab, to whom I had given some medicine which had been
beneficial to him, in the Sa'eed, during my first visit to this country,
heard me inquire for some Zemzem-water (as several boats full of
pilgrims on their return from Mekkeh were coming down the Nile),
and perhaps thought, from my making this inquiry, that I was a
pious Muslim : accordingly, to shew his gratitude to me, he gave me
what I was seeking to obtain. Having gone to the house of a friend,
he returned to my boat, bringing a small bundle, which he opened
before me. " Here/' said he, " are some things which, I know, you
will value highly. Here are two tin flasks of the water of Zemzem :
one of them you shall have : you may keep it to sprinkle your grave-
clothing with it. This is a ' miswak ' (a tooth-stick) dipped in the
water of Zemzem : accept it from me : clean your teeth with it, and
they will never ache, nor decay. And here," he added (shewing rne
three small, oblong and flat cakes,, of a kind of greyish earth, each
about an inch in length, and stamped with Arabic characters, 'In
the name of God : Dust of our land [mixed] with the saliva of some
of us'), " these are composed of earth from over the grave of the
Prophet (God bless and save him) : I purchased them myself in the
noble tomb, on my return from the pilgrimage : one of them I give
to you : you will find it a cure for every disease : the second I shall
keep for myself; and the third we will eat together/' Upon this, he
broke in halves one of the three cakes ; and we each ate our share.
I agreed with him that it was delicious ; and I gladly accepted his
presents. I was afterwards enabled to make several additions to my
Mekkeh curiosities ; comprising a piece of the covering of the Kaabeh,
brought from Mekkeh by the sheykh Ibnlheem (Burckhardt), and
given to me by his legatee 'Osm&n. A cake composed of dust from
the Prophet's tomb is sometimes sewed up in a leathern case, and
worn as an amulet. It is also formed into lumps of the shape and
size of a small pear, and hung to the railing or screen which sur-
rounds the monument over the grave of a saint, or to the monument
itself, or to the windows or door of the apartment which contains it.
i Every year, on the first day of the Great The old one is cut up; and the greater part of it
Festival, which immediately follows the pilgrim- is sold to the pilgrims,
age, a new covering is hung upon the Kaabeh.
256 CHAPTER XI.
So numerous are the charms \thich the Egyptians employ to
insure good fortune, or to prevent or remove evils of every kind, and
so various are the superstitious practices to which they have recourse
with these views, that a large volume would scarcely suffice to describe
them in detail. These modes of endeavouring to obtain good, and to ,
avoid or dispel evil, when they are not founded upon religion or
magic or astrology, are termed matters of (t 'ilm er-rukkeh," or the
science of the distaff (that is, of the women); which designation
is given to imply their absurdity, and because women are the
persons who most confide in them. This term is considered, by
some, as a vulgar corruption of "'ilm er-rukyeh," or "the science of
enchantment :" by others, it is supposed to be substituted for the
latter term by wAy of a pun. Some practices of the nature just
described have already been incidentally mentioned : I shall only
give a few other specimens.
It is a very common custom in Cairo to hang an aloe-plant over,
the door of a house ; particularly over that of a new house, or over a
door newly built : and this is regarded as a charm to insure long and
flourishing lives to the inmates, and long continuance to the house
itself. 1 . The women also believe that the Prophet visits the house
where this plant is suspended. The aloe, thus hung, without earth
or water, will live for several years ; and even blossom.* Hence it
is called " sabr," which signifies " patience ;" but more properly
"abb&rahj" "sabr," a contraction of " sabir," being generally
applied to the expressed juice.
When any evil is apprehended from a person, it is customary to
break a piece of pottery behind his back. This is also done with the
view of preventing further intercourse with such a person.
As ophthalmia is very prevalent in Egypt, the ignorant people of
this country resort to many ridiculous practices of a superstitious
nature for its cure. Some, for this purpose, take a piece of dried
mud, from the bank of the Nile at or near Boolak, the principal port
of Cairo, and, crossing the river, deposit it on the opposite bank, at
Imbdbeh. This is considered sufficient to insure a cure. Others,
with the same view, hang to the head-dress, over the forehead, or
over the diseased eye, a Venetian sequin f but it must be one of a
particular description, in which the figures on each side correspond,
1 It has been said, by a traveller, that this is only done at pilgrims' houses : but such is not the case,
at least in Egypt. * " Bendufcee."
CHAKMS. 257
head to head, and feet to feet. 1 Yet, if a person having a Venetian
sequin, or a dollar, in his pocket, enters the room of one who is
suffering from ophthalmia or fever, his presence is thought to
aggravate the complaint. It is also a general belief, here, that, if an
individual in a state of religious uncleanness enters a room in which is
a person afflicted with ophthalmia, the patient's disease will conse-
quently be aggravated, and that a speck will appear in one or each of
his eyes. A man with whom I am acquainted has, at the time I
write this, just come out of a room in which he had confined himself,
while suffering from ophthalmia, for about three months, from this
fear ; never allowing any person to enter j his servant always placing
his food outside his door. He has, however, come out with a speck
in one of his eyes.
Another practice, which is often adopted in similar cases, but
mostly by women, and frequently with the view of preventing barren-
ness, is very singular and disgusting. The large open place called the
Rumeyleh, on the west of the Citadel of Cairo, is a common scene of
the execution of criminals ; and the decapitation of persons convicted
of capital offences in the metropolis was formerly almost always
performed there, rather than in any other part of the town. On the
south of this place is a building called " Maghsil es-Sultdn," or the
Sultan's washing-place for the dead; where is a table of stone, upon
which the body of every person who is decapitated is washed,
previously to its burial, and there is a trough to receive the water,
which is never poured out, but remains tainted with the blood, and
fetid. Many a woman goes thither, and, for the cure of ophthalmia,
or to obtain offspring, or to expedite delivery in the case of a pro-
tracted pregnancy, without speaking (for silence is deemed absolutely
necessary), passes under the stone table above mentioned, with the
left foot foremost, and then over it ; and does this seven times ; after
which, she washes her face with the polluted water that is in the
trough, and gives five or ten faddahs to an old man and his wife, who
keep the place ; then goes away, still without speaking. Men, in the
case of ophthalmia, often do the same. The Maghsil is said to have
been built by the famous Beybars, before he became Sultan; in
consequence of his observing that the remains of persons decapi-
tated in Cairo were often kicked about, and buried without being
previously washed.
i A sequin of this description is termed " bendukec mushdharah."
2 L
258 CHAPTER XL
Some women step over the body of a decapitated man seven times,
without speaking, to become pregnant; and some, with the same
desire, dip in the blood a piece of cotton wool, of which they after-
wards make use in a manner I must decline mentioning.
A ridiculous ceremony is practised for the cure of a pimple on the
edge of the eye-lid, or what we commonly call a " sty," and which is
termed in Egypt " shahMteh ;" a word which literally signifies " a
female beggar." 1 The person affected with it goes to any seven women
of the name of FaVmch, in seven different houses, and begs from
each of them a morsel of bread : these seven morsels constitute the
remedy. Sometimes, in a similar case, and for the same purpose, a
person goes out before sunrise, and, without speaking, walks round
several tombs, from right to left, which is the reverse of the
regular course made in visiting tombs. Another supposed mode of
cure in a case of the same kind is, to bind a bit of cotton on the end
of a stick j then to dip it in one of the troughs out of which the dogs
drink in the streets of Cairo, and to wipe the eye with it. The
patient is thus careful to preserve his hand from the polluted water,
when he is about to apply this to another part of his person.
As an imaginary cure for ague, some of the women of Egypt
(I mean those of the Muslim faith) hang to their necks the finger of a
Christian or Jew, cut off a corpse, and dried. This and other practices
mentioned before are striking proofs of the degrading effects of super-
stition, and of its powerful influence over the mind : for, in general,
the Muslims are scrupulously careful to conform with that precept of
their religion which requires them to abstain from everything polluting
or unclean.
When a child is unable to walk, after having attained the age
when it is usual to begin to do so, it is a common custom for the
mother to bind its feet together with a palm-leaf tied in three knots,
and to place it at the door of a mosque during the period when the
congregation are engaged in performing the Friday-prayers : when the
prayers are ended, she asks the first, second, and third persons who
come out of the mosque to untie each a knot of the palm-leaf ; and
then carries the child home, confident that this ceremony will soon
have the desired effect.
There are several pretended antidotes for poison, and remedies for
certain diseases, to which the Egyptians often have recourse, and which
Being a corruption of "shatyhudheh."
AUGURATION. 259
may perhaps have some efficacy : but superstition attributes to them
incredible virtues. Of the beneficial and the injurious properties of
various vegetable and animal substances, either in themselves or in
particular circumstances, the most absurd notions are entertained,
even by the generality of the more learned and enlightened; being
sanctioned in some instances by traditions related a being precepts
of Mohammad, and in general bjr the authority of their most eminent
physicians. The bezoar-stone * is used as an antidote for poison, by
rubbing it in a cup with a little water : the cup is then filled with
water, which the patient drinks. In the same manner, and for the
same purpose, a cup made of the horn of the rhinoceros 2 is used : a
piece of the same material (the horn) is rubbed in it. As a cure for
the jaundice, many persons in Cairo drink the water of a well in this
city, called "beer el-yarakan," or "the well of the jaundice." It is
the property of an old woman, who reaps considerable advantage from
it : for it has two mouths, under one of which is a dry receptacle for
anything that may be thrown down : and the old woman desires the
persons who come to use the medicinal water to drop through this
mouth whatever she happens to be in need of; as sugar, coffee, &c.
The Muslims have recourse to many superstitious practices to
determine them when they are in doubt as to any action which they
contemplate, whether they shall do it or not. Some apply, for an
answer, to a table called a " zairgeh." There is a table of this kind
ascribed to Idrees, or Enoch. It is divided into a hundred little
squares, in each of which is written some Arabic letter. The person
who consults it repeats, three times, the opening chapter of the
Kur-an, and the 59th verse of the Soorat cl-An'fim (or 6th chapter)
" With Him are the keys of the secret things : none knowcth them
but He : and He knoweth whatever is on the land and [what is] in
the sea : and there fallcth not a leaf, but He knoweth it, nor a grain
in the dark parts of the earth, nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but
[it is noted] in a distinct writing." Having done this, without look-
ing directly at the table, he places his finger upon it : he then looks
to see upon what letter his finger is placed ; writes that letter ; the
fifth following it ; the fifth following this ; and so on, until he comes
again to the first which he wrote ; and these letters together compose
the answer. The construction of the table may be shewn by trans-
lating it, thus :
" IJagar cl-binzahew."
CHAPTER XI.
d
w
w
a
w
o
h
a
b
h
i
o
i
6
t
d
t
t
w
w
o
a
a
a
i
e
n
i
i
t
s
d
n
t
li
i
a
a
6
o
t
t
n
t
"U
w
t
d
h
t
i
a
e
8
f
1
i
n
u
e
1
n
j
C
a
d
t
c
r
o
h
y
e
o
w*
y
P
e
f
r
w
e
d
i
o
i
a
e
1
n
s
c
t
1
g
h
e
h
For an example, suppose the finger to be placed on the letter e in
the sixth line : we take, from the table, the letters e nj o y p e a c e
abstainand, which compose this sentence : " Abstain, and
enjoy peace :" the sentence always commencing with the first of the
letters taken from the uppermost line. It will be seen that the table
gives only five answers ; and that, if we proceed as above directed,
we must obtain one of these answers, with whatever letter of the table
we commence. It will also be observed, that the framer of the table,
knowing that men very frequently wish to do what is wrong, and
seldom to do what is right, and that it is generally safer for them to
abstain when in doubt, has given but one affirmative answer, and four
negative. 1
Some persons have recourse to the Kur-an for an answer to their
doubts. This they call making an " istikharah," or application for
the favour of heaven, or for direction in the right course. Repeating,
three times, the opening chapter, the 112th chapter, and the verse
above quoted, they let the book fall open, or open it at random, and,
from the seventh line of the right-hand page, draw their answer.
The words often will not convey a direct answer ; but are taken as
affirmative or negative according as their general tenour is good or bad ;
promising a blessing, or denouncing a threat, &c. Instead of reading
the seventh line of this page, some count the number of the letters
1 The more approved zairgehs are extremely complicated; and the process of consulting them
involves intricate astrological calculations.
AUGURATION. 261
"kha" and "sheen" which occur in the whole page; and if the
" khas " predominate, the inference is favourable : " kha " represents
"kheyr," or "good:" " sheen," " sharr," or "evil."
There is another mode of istikhdrah ; which is, to take hold of
any two points of a " sebhah " (or rosary), after reciting the Fdt'hah
three times, and then to count the beads between these two points,
saying, in passing the first bead through the fingers, " [I extol] the
perfection of God;" 1 in passing the second, "Praise be to God;"* in
passing the third, " There is no deity but God ;" 3 and repeating these
expressions in the same order, to the last bead : if the first expression
fall to the last bead, the answer is affirmative and favourable : if the
second, indifferent : if the last, negative. This is practised by many
persons.
Some, again, in similar cases, on lying down to sleep, at night,
beg of God to direct them by a dream; by causing them to see
something white or green, or water, if the action which they contem-
plate be approved, or if they are to expect approaching good fortune ;
and if not, by causing, them to see something black or red, or fire :
they then recite the Fat'hah ten times ; and continue to repeat these
words " God, bless our lord Mohammad I" until they fall asleep.
The Egyptians place great faith in dreams, which often direct
them in some of the most important actions of life. They have two
large and celebrated works on the interpretation of dreams, by Ibn-
Shahcen and Ibn-Seereen ; the latter of whom was the pupil of the
former. These books are consulted, even by many of the learned,
with implicit confidence. When one person says to another, " I have
seen a dream," the latter usually replies, "Good"* (i. e. may it be
of good omen), or, " Good, please God." 5 When a person has had
an evil dream, it is customary for him to say, "0 God, bless our lord
Mohammad:" and to spit over his left shoulder three times, to
prevent an evil result.
In Egypt, as in most other countries, superstitions are entertained
respecting days of the week ; some being considered fortunate; and
others, unfortunate. The Egyptians regard Sunday as ^unfortunate
day, on account of the night which follows it. This night, which
(according to the system already mentioned) is called the night of
Mmday, the learned Muslims, and many of the inferior classes,
1 "Subljaua-llah." * "Kheyr."
2 El-hamdu li-llah '' 5 " Khcyr in shaa-Uah."
* "Lailahailla-llah>
262 CHAPTER XI.
consider unfortunate, because it was that of the death of their Prophet j
but some regard it as fortunate, particularly for the consummation of
marriage ; though not so auspicious for this affair as the eve of Friday.
The day following it is also considered, by some, as fortunate ; and
by others, as unfortunate. Tuesday is generally thought unfortunate,
and called "the day of blood;" as it is said that several eminent
martyrs were put to death on this day : and hence, also, it is com-
monly esteemed a proper day for being bled. Wednesday is regarded
as indifferent. Thursday is called " el-mubarak " (or, the blessed) ;
and is considered fortunate ; particularly deriving a blessing from the
following night and day. The eve, or night, of Friday is very
fortunate; especially for the consummation of marriage, Friday is
blessed above all other days as being the sabbath of the Muslims : it
is called " el-fadeeleh " (or, the excellent). Saturday 'is the most
unfortunate of days. It is considered very wrong to commence a
journey, and, by most people in Egypt, to shave, or cut the nails, qn
this day. A friend of mine here was doubting whether he should
bring an action against two persons on so. unfortunate a day as
Saturday : he decided, at last, that it was the best day of the week
for him to do this, as the ill fortune must fall upon one of the two
parties only, and doubtless upon his adversaries, because they were
two to one. There are some days of the year which are esteemed
very fortunate ; as those of the two grand festivals, &c. : and some
which are regarded as unfortunate; as, for instance, the last Wednesday
in the month of Safar : when many persons make a point of not
going out of their houses, from the belief that numerous afflictions
fall upon mankind on that day. 1 Some persons draw lucky or un-
lucky omens from the first object they see on going out of the house
in the morning : according as that object is pleasant or the reverse,
they say, " our morning is good " or " bad." A one-eyed person
is regarded as of evil omen ; and especially one who is blind of the
left eye.
1 This superstition, however, was condemned by the Prophet.
( 263 )
CHAPTER XII.
MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHYMY.
IP we might believe some stories which are commonly related in
Egypt, it would appear that, in modern days, there have been, in this
country, magicians not less skilful than Pharoah's " wise men and
sorcerers " of whom we read in the Bible.
The more intelligent of the Muslims distinguish two kinds of
magic, which they term " Er-Roohanee " (vulgb, " Rowhanee ") and
" Es-Seemiya :" the former is spiritual magic, which is believed to
effect its wonders by the agency of angels and genii, and by the
mysterious virtues of certain names of God, and other supernatural
means : the latter is natural and deceptive magic ; and its chief
agents, the less credulous Muslims believe to be certain perfumes and
drugs, which affect the vision and imagination nearly in the same
manner as opium : this drug, indeed, is supposed, by some persons,
to be employed in the operations of the latter branch of magic.
" Er-Roohanee," which is universally considered, among the
Egyptians, as true magic, is of two kinds, " 'ilwee " (or high) and
" suflee " (or low) ; which are also called " rahmanee " (or divine, or,
literally, relating to " the Compassionate," which is an epithet of God,)
and "sheytanee" (or satanic). The 'ilwee, or rahmanee, is said to
be a science founded on the agency of God, and of his angels, and
good genii, and on other lawful mysteries ; to be always employed for
good purposes, and only attained and practised by men of probity,
who, by tradition, or from books, learn the names of those super-
human agents, and invocations which insure compliance with their
desires. The writing of charms for good purposes belongs to this
branch of magic, and to astrology, and to the science of the mysteries
of numbers. The highest attainment in divine magic consists in the
264 CHAPTER XII.
knowledge of the " Ism el-Aazam." This is " the most great name "
of God, which is generally believed, by the learned, to be known to
none but prophets and apostles of God. A person acquainted with
it can, it is said, by merely uttering it, raise the dead to life, kill
the living, transport himself instantly wherever he pleases, and per-
form any other miracle. Some suppose it to be known to eminent
welees. The suflee is believed to depend on the agency of the devil,
and other evil genii ; and to be used for bad purposes, and by bad
men. To this branch belongs the science called, by the Arabs, " es-
sehr;" which is a term they give only to wicked enchantment.
Those who perform what is called " darb el-mendel " (of which I pur-
pose to relate some examples) profess to do it by the agency of genii ;
that is, by the science called er-rooMnee : but there is another opinion
on this subject which will be presently mentioned. One of the means
by which genii are believed to assist magicians has been explained in
the second paragraph of Chapter X.
"Es-Seemiya" is generally pronounced, by the learned, to be a
false science, and deceptive art, which produces surprising effects by
those natural means which have been above mentioned ; and the
" darb el-mendel," as perfumes are employed in the performance of it,
is considered, by such persons, as pertaining to es-seemiya.
" 'Ilm en-Nugoom," or Astrology, is studied by many persons in
Egypt, It is chiefly employed in casting nativities, and in deter-
mining fortunate periods, &c. ; and very commonly, to divine by what
sign of the zodiac a person is influenced ; which is usually done by a
calculation founded upon the numerical values of the letters composing
his or her name, and that of the mother : this is often done in the
case of two persons who contemplate becoming man and wife, with
the view of ascertaining whether they will agree. The science called
" darb er-raml," or geomancy, by which, from certain marks made at
random on paper, or on sand (whence it is said to derive its name),
the professors pretend to discover past, passing, and future events, is,
I am informed, mainly founded on astrology.
a El-Keemiya," or Alchymy, is also studied by many persons in
Egypt, and by some possessed of talents by which they might obtain
a better reputation than this pursuit procures them, and who, in spite
of the derision which they experience from a few men of sounder
' minds, and the reproaches of those whom they unintentionally make
their dupes, continue, to old age, their fruitless labours. Considerable
MAGIC. 265
knowledge of chemistry is, however, sometimes acquired in the study
of this false science; arid in the present degraded state of physical
knowledge in this country, it rather evinces a superior mind when a
person gives his attention to alchymy.
There is, or was, 1 a native of Egypt very highly celebrated for his
performances in the higher kind of that branch of magic called er-
rooh&nee ; the sheykh Isma'eel Aboo-Ru-oos, of the town of Dasook.
Even the more learned and sober of the people of this country relate
most incredible stories of his magical skill ; for which some of them
account by asserting his having been married to a " ginneeyeh " (or
female genie); and others, merely by his having "ginn" at his
service, whom he could mentally consult and command, without
making use of any such charm as the lamp of 'Al&-ed-Deen. 2 He is
said to have always employed this supernatural power either for good
or innocent purposes; and to have been much favoured by Mo-
hammad 'Alee, who, some say, often consulted him. One of the
most sensible of my Muslim friends, in this place (Cairo), informs
me that he once visited Aboo-Ru-oos, at Dasook, in company with
the sheykh El-Emeer, son of the sheykh El-Emeer el-Kebccr, sheykh
of the sect of the Malikees. My friend's companion asked their
host to shew them some proof of his skill in magic; and the latter
complied with the request. " Let coffee be served to us," said the
sheykh El-Emeer, " in my father's set of fingans and zarfs, which
are in Masr." They waited a few minutes ; and then the coffee was
brought ; and the sheykh El-Emeer looked at the fing&ns and /arfs,
and said that they were certainly his father's. He was next treated
with sherbet, in what he declared himself satisfied were his father's
kullehs. He then wrote a letter to his father, and, giving it to
Aboo-Ru-oos, asked him to procure an answer to it. The magician
took the letter, placed it behind a cushion of his deewan, and, a few
minutes after, removing the cushion, shewed him that this letter was
gone, and that another was in its place. The sheykh El-Emeer took
the latter; opened and read it; and found in it, in a handwriting
which, he said, he could have sworn to be that of his father, a com-
plete answer to what he had written, and an account of the state of
* I was informed that he had died during my and erroneous mode of writing the name of the
second visit to Egypt. master of "the wonderful lamp." It is Tulgarly
2 I must be excused for deviating from our old pronounced 'Alay-ed-Deen.
2 M
266 CHAPTER XII.
his family which he proved, on his return to Cairo, a few days after,
to be perfectly true. 1
A curious case of magic fell under the cognizance of the
government during my former visit to this country; and became
a subject of general talk and wonder throughout the metropolis. I
shall give the story of this occurrence precisely as it was related to
me by several persons in Cairo; without curtailing it of any of the
exaggerations with which they embellished it ; not only because I am
ignorant how far it is true, but because I would shew how great
a degree of faith the Egyptians in general place in magic, or en-
chantment.
Mustafa Ed-Digwee, chief secretary in the Kadee's court, in this
city, was dismissed from his office, and succeeded by another person
of the name of Mustafa, who had been a seyrefee, or money-changer.
The former sent a petition to the Basha, begging to be reinstated ;
but before he received an answer, he was attacked by a severe illness,
which he believed to be the effect of enchantment : he persuaded
himself that Mustafa the seyrefee had employed a magician to write
a spell which should cause him to die ; and therefore sent a second
time to the B&sha, charging the new secretary with this crime. The
accused was brought before the Basha ; confessed that he had done
so ; and named the magician whom he had employed. The latter
was arrested; and, not being able to deny the charge brought
against him, was thrown into prison, there to remain until it should
be seen whether or not Ed-Digwee would die. He was locked up in
a small cell ; and two soldiers were placed at the door, that one of
them might keep watch while the other slept. Now for the
marvellous part of the story. At night, after one of the guards
had fallen asleep, the other heard a strange, murmuring noise, and,
looking through a crack of the door of the cell, saw the magician
sitting in the middle of the floor, muttering some words which he
(the guard) could not understand. Presently, the candle which was
before him became extinguished ; and, at the same instant, four other
candles appeared; one in each corner of the cell. The magician then
rose, and, standing on one side of the cell, knocked his forehead three
times against the wall j and each time that he did so, the wall opened,
i Of a more famous magician, the sheykh given in my translation of the Thousand and One
Ahmad Sadoomeh, who flourished in Egypt in Nights, chap, i., note 15.
the latter half of the last century, an account is
MAGIC. 9f,7
and a man appeared to come forth from it. After the magician had
conversed for some minutes with the three personages whom he thus
produced, they disappeared ; as did, also, the four candles ; and the
candle that was in the midst of the cell became lighted again, as at
first : the magician then resumed his position on the floor ; and all
was quiet. Thus the spell that was to have killed Ed-Digwee was
dissolved. Early the next morning, the invalid felt himself so much
better, that he called for a basin and ewer, performed the ablution,
and said his prayers ; and from that time he rapidly recovered. He
was restored to his former office; and the magician was banished
from Egypt. Another enchanter (or " sahhar ") was banished a few
days after, for writing a charm which caused a Muslimeh girl to be
affected with an irresistible love for a Copt Christian.
A few days after my first arrival in this country, my curiosity was
excited on the subject of magic by a circumstance related to me by
Mr. Salt, our Consul-general. Having had reason to believe that one
of his servants was a thief, from the fact of several articles of property
having been stolen from his house, he sent for a celebrated Maghrabee
magician, with the view of intimidating them, and causing the guilty
one (if any of them were guilty) to confess his crime. The magician
came ; and said that he would cause the exact image of the person
who had committed the thefts to appear to any youth not arrived at
the age of puberty ; and desired the master of the house to call in any
boy whom he might choose. As several boys were then employed in
a garden adjacent to the house, one of them was called for this
purpose. In the palm of this boy's right hand, the magician drew,
with a pen, a certain diagram, in the centre of which he poured a
little ink. Into this ink, he desired the boy stedfastly to look. He
then burned some incense, and several bits of paper inscribed with
charms ; and at the same time called for various objects to appear in
the ink. The boy declared that he saw all these objects, and, last
of all, the image of the guilty person; he described his stature,
countenance, and dress; said that he knew him; and directly ran
down into the garden, and apprehended one of the labourers, who,
when brought before the master, immediately confessed that he was
the thief.
The above relation made me desirous of witnessing a similar
performance during my first visit to this country; but not being
acquainted with the name of the magician here alluded to, or his
place of abode, I was unable to obtain any tidings of him. I learned,
268 CHAFFER XII.
however, soon after my return to England, that he had become
known to later travellers in Egypt; was residing in Cairo; and that
he was called the sheykh 'Abd-El-Kadir El-Maghrabee. A few weeks
after my second arrival in Egypt, my neighbour 'Osm&n, interpreter
of the British consulate, brought him to me ; and I fixed a day for
his visiting me, to give me a proof of the skill for which he is so
much famed. He came at the time appointed, about two hours
before noon ; but seemed uneasy ; frequently looked up at the sky,
through the window ; and remarked that the weather was unpropitious :
it was dull and cloudy ; and the wind was boisterous. The experiment
was performed with three boys ; one after another. With the first,
it was partly successful; but with the others, it completely failed.
The magician said that he could do nothing more that day ; and that
he would come in the evening' of a subsequent day. He kept his
appointment ; and admitted that the time was favourable. While
waiting for my neighbour, before mentioned, to come and witness the
performances, we took pipes and coffee; and the magician chatted
with me on indifferent subjects. He is a fine, tall, and stout man,
of a rather fair complexion, with a dark-brown beard; is shabbily
dressed ; and generally wears a large green turban, being a descendant
of the Prophet. In his conversation, he is affable and unaffected. He
professed to me that his wonders were effected by the agency of good
spirits ; but to others, he has said the contrary : that his magic is
satanic.
In preparing for the experiment of the magic mirror of ink,
which, like some other performances of a similar nature, is here
termed " darb el-meudel," the magician first asked me for a reed-pen
and ink, a piece of paper, and a pair of scissors ; and, having cut off
a narrow strip of paper, wrote upon it certain forms of invocation,
together with another charm, by which he professes to accomplish
the object of the experiment. He did not attempt to conceal these ;
and on my asking him to give me copies of them, he readily consented,
and immediately wrote them for me ; explaining to me, at the same
time, that the object he had in view was accomplished through the
influence of the first two words, "Tarshun" and " Taryooshun," 1
which, he said, were the names of two genii, his " familiar spirits."
I compared the copies with the originals ; and found that they exactly
agreed. Fac-similes of them are here inserted, with a translation.
1 Or, "Tarah" and " faryoosh ;" the final "un" being the inflexion which denotes the nominative
MAGIC. 269
^><& A>
C cr *'
Magic Invocation and Charm.
"Tarshun! Taryooshim! Comedown!
Come down ! Be present ! Whither are gone
the prince and his troops ? Where are El-Ahmar
the prince and his troops ? Be present
ye servants of these names !"
" And this is the removal. ' And we have removed from thee
thy veil ; and thy sight to-day
is piercing/ Correct : correct."
Having written these, the magician cut off the paper containing the
forms of invocation from that upon which the other charm was
written ; and cut the former into six strips. He then explained to
me that the object of the latter charm (which contains part of the
21st verse of the Soorat Kaf, or 50th chapter of the Kur-an) was to
open' the boy's eyes in a supernatural manner ; to make his sight
pierce into what is to us the invisible world.
I had prepared, by the magician's direction, some frankincense
and coriander-seed, 1 and a chafing-dish with some live charcoal in
it. These were now brought into the room, together with the boy
who was to be employed : he had been called in, by my desire, from
among some boys in the street, returning from a manufactory ; and
He generally requires some benzoin to be added to these.
270
CHAPTER XII.
was about eight or nine years of age. In reply to my inquiry re-
specting the description of persons who could see in the magic mirror
of ink, the magician said that they were a boy not arrived at puberty,
a virgin, a black female slave, and a pregnant woman. The chafing-
dish was placed before him and the boy; and the latter was placed on
a seat. The magician now desired my servant to put some frank-
incense and coriander-seed into the chafing-dish ; then taking hold
of the boy's right hand, he drew, in the palm of it, a magic square,
of which a copy is here given. The figures which it contains are
Arabic numerals. 1 In the centre, he poured a little ink, and desired
Magio Square and Mirror of Ink.
the boy to look into it, and tell him if he could see his face reflected
in it : the boy replied that he saw his face clearly. The magician,
holding the boy's hand all the while, 2 told him to continue looking
intently into the ink ; and not to raise his head.
The numbers in this magic square, in our own ordinary characters, are as follow :
It will be seen that the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal rows give, each, the same sura, namely, 15.
a This reminds us of animal magnetism.
MAGIC. 271
He then took one of the little strips of paper inscribed with the
forms of invocation, and dropped it into the chafing-dish, upon the
burning coals and perfumes, which had. already filled the room with
their smoke ; and as he did this, he commenced an indistinct mutter-
ing of words, which he continued during the whole process, except
when he had to ask the boy a question, or to tell him what he was to
say. The piece of paper containing the words from the Kur-dn he
placed inside the fore part of the boy's takeeyelr, or skull-cap. He
then asked him if he saw anything in the ink ; and was answered,
" No :" but about a minute after, the boy, trembling, and seeming
much frightened, said, "I see a man sweeping the ground." " When
he has done sweeping," said the magician, " tell me." Presently, the
boy said, " He has done." The magician then again interrupted his
muttering to ask the boy if he knew what a " beyrak " (or flag) was ;
and, being answered, "Yes," desired him to say, "Bring a flag."
The boy did so ; and soon said, " He has brought a flag." " What
colour is it?" asked the magician : the boy replied, "Red." He was
told to call for another flag; which he did; and soon after he said
that he saw another brought ; and that it was black. In like manner,
he was told to call for a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh;
which he described as being successively brought before him ; specify-
ing their colours, as white, green, black, red, and blue. The magician
then asked him (as he did, also, each time that a new flag was
described as being brought), " How many flags have you now before
you ?" " Seven," answered the boy. While this was going on, the
magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper upon
which the forms of invocation were written into the chafing-dish ;
and fresh frankincense and coriander-seed having been repeatedly
added, the fumes became painful to the eyes. When the boy had
described the seven flags as appearing to him, he was desired to say,
" Bring the SuMn's tent; and pitch it." This he did; and in about
a minute after, he said, " Some men have brought the tent ; a large
green tent : they are pitching it ;" and presently he added, " They
have set it up." " Now," said the magician, " order the soldiers to
come, and to pitch their camp around the tent of the Sultan." The
boy did as he was desired; and immediately said, "I see a great
many soldiers, with their tents : they have pitched their tents." He
was then told to order that the soldiers should be drawn up in ranks ;
and, having done so, he presently said that he saw them thus
arranged. The magician had put the fourth of the little strips of
272 CHAPTER XII.
paper into the chafing-dish ; and soon after, he did the same with the
fifth. He now said, "Tell some of the people to bring a bull." The
boy gave the order required, and said, " I see a bull : it is red : four
men are dragging it along; and three are beating it." He was told
to desire them to kill it, and cut it up, and to put the meat in sauce-
pans, and cook it. He did as he was directed ; and described these
operations as apparently performed before his eyes. " Tell the
soldiers," said the magician, " to eat it." The boy did so ; and said,
"They are eating it. They have done; and are washing their hands."
The magician then told him to call for the Sultan ; and the boy,
having done this, said, " I see the Sultan riding to his tent, on a bay
horse ; and he has, on his head, a high red cap : he has alighted at
his tent, and sat down within it." " Desire them to bring coffee to
the Sultan," said the magician, "and to form the court." These
orders were given by the boy ; and he said that he saw them per-
formed. The magician had put the last of the six little strips .of
paper into the chafing-dish. In his niutterings I distinguished
nothing but the words of the written invocation, frequently repeated,
except on two or three occasions, when I heard him say, " If they
demand information, inform them ; and be ye veracious." But much
that he repeated was inaudible, and as I did not ask him to teach me
his art, I do not pretend to assert that I am fully acquainted with his
invocations.
He now addressed himself to me ; and asked me if I wished the
boy to see any person who was absent or dead. I named Lord
Nelson ; of whom the boy had evidently never heard ; for it was with
much difficulty that he pronounced the name, after several trials.
The magician desired the boy to say to the Sultan "My master
salutes thee, and desires thee to bring Lord Nelson : bring him before
my eyes, that I may see him, speedily." The boy then said so ; and
almost immediately added, " A messenger is gone, and has returned,
and brought a man, dressed in a black ! suit of European clothes :
the man has lost his left arm." He then paused for a moment or
two ; and, looking more intently, and more closely, into the ink, said,
" No, he has not lost his left arm ; but it is placed to his breast. 1 '
This correction made his description more striking than it had been
without it : since Lord Nelson generally had his empty sleeve attached
1 Dark blue is called by the modern Egyptians " eswed," which properly signifies black, and is
therefore so translated here.
MAGIC. 273
to the breast of his coat : but it was the right arm that he had lost.
Without saying that I suspected the boy had made a mistake, I
asked the magician whether the objects appeared in the ink as if
actually before the eyes, or as if in a glass, which makes the right
appear left. He answered, that they appeared as in a mirror. This
rendered the boy's description faultless. 1
The next person I called for was a native of Egypt, who had been
for many years resident in England, where he had adopted our dress ;
and who had been long confined to his bed by illness before I em-
barked for this country : I thought that his name, one not very un-
common in Egypt, might make the boy describe him incorrectly;
though another boy, on the former visit of the magician, had described
this same person as wearing a European dress, like that in which I
last saw him. In the present case the boy said, " Here is a man
brought on a kind of bier, and wrapped up in a sheet." This descrip-
tion would suit, supposing the person in question to be still confined
to his bed, or if he were dead. 8 The boy described his face as
covered ; and was told to order that it should be uncovered. This he
did ; and then said, " His face is pale ; and he has mustaches, but
no beard :" which is correct.
Several other persons were successively called for; but the boy's
descriptions of them were imperfect, though not altogether incorrect.
He represented each object as appearing less distinct than the pre-
ceding one ; as if his sight were gradually becoming dim : he was a
minute, or more, before he could give any account of the persons he
professed to see towards the close of the performance; and the
magician said it was useless to proceed with him. Another boy was
then brought in ; and the magic square, &c., made in his hand ; but
he could see nothing. The magician said he was too old.
Though completely puzzled, I was somewhat disappointed with
his performances, for they fell short of what he had accomplished, in
many instances, in presence of certain of my friends and couutryrnen.
1 Whenever I desired the boy to call for any * important to add, that the dialect of the magician
person to appear, I paid particular attention both was more intelligible to me than to the boy.
to the magician and to 'Osman. The latter gave When / understood him perfectly at once, he was
no direction either by word or sign; and indeed sometimes obliged to vary his words to make the
he was generally unacquainted with the personal lx>y comprehend what he said,
appearance of the individual called for. I took 2 A few months after this was written, I had
care that he had no previous communication with the pleasure of hearing that the person hero
the boys ; and have seen the experiment fail when alluded to was in better health. Whether he was
he could have given directions to them, or to the confined to his bed at the time when this expe-
raagician. In short, it would be difficult to con- riment was performed, I have not been able to
ceive any precaution which I did not take. It is ascertain.
2 N
274 CHAPTER XII.
On one of these occasions, an Englishman present ridiculed the per-
formance, and said that nothing would satisfy him but a correct de-
scription of the appearance of his own father, of whom, he was sure,
no one of the company had any knowledge. The boy, accordingly,
having called by name for the person alluded to, described a man in
a Frank dress, with his hand placed to his head, wearing spectacles,
and with one foot on the ground, and the other raised behind him, as
if he were stepping down from a seat. The description was exactly
true in every respect : the peculiar position of the hand was occasioned
by an almost constant headache ; and that of the foot or leg, by a
stiff knee, caused by a fall from a horse, in hunting. I am assured
that, on this occasion, the boy accurately described each person and
thing that was called for. On another occasion, Shakspeare was de-
scribed with the most minute correctness, both as to person and dress ;
and I might add several other cases in which the same magician has
excited astonishment in the sober minds of Englishmen of my ac-
quaintance. A short time since, after performing in the usual manner,
by means of a boy, he prepared the magic mirror in the hand of a
young English lady, who, on looking into it for a little while, said
that she saw a broom sweeping the ground without anybody holding
it, and was so much frightened that she would look no longer.
I have stated these facts partly from my own experience, and
partly as they came to my knowledge on the authority of respectable
persons. The reader may be tempted to think, that, in each instance,
the boy saw images produced by some reflection in the ink ; but this
was evidently not the case ; or that he was a confederate, or guided
by leading questions. That there was no collusion, I satisfactorily
ascertained, by selecting the boy who performed the part above
described in my presence from a number of others passing by in the
street, and by his rejecting a present which I afterwards offered him
with the view of inducing him to confess that he did not really sec
what he had professed to have seen. I tried the veracity of another
boy on a subsequent occasion in the same manner ; and the result
was the same. The experiment often entirely fails ; but when the
boy employed is right in one case, he generally is so in all : when he
gives, at first, an account altogether wrong, the magician usually dis-
misses him at once, saying that he is too old. The perfumes, or
"excited imagination, or fear, may be supposed to affect the vision of
the boy who describes objects as appearing to him in the ink ; but, if
so, why does he see exactly what is required, and objects of which he
MAGIC.
275
can have had no previous particular notion ? Neither I nor others
have been able to discover any clue by which to penetrate the mystery ;
and if the reader be alike unable to give the solution, I hope that he
will not allow the above account to induce in his mind any degree of
scepticism with respect to other portions of this work. 1
1 I have been gratified by finding that this
hope has been realized. I wish 1 could add that
the phenomena were now explained. In No. 117
of the "Quarterly Review," pp. 202 and 203, it
has been suggested that the performances were
effected by means of pictures and a concave mir-
ror; and that the images of the former were
reflected from the surface of the mirror, and re-
ceived on a cloud of smoke under the eyes of the
boy. This, however, I cannot admit; because
such moans could not have been employed with-
out my perceiving them ; nor would the images
be reversed (unless the pictures were so) by being
reflected from the surface of a mirror and re-
ceived upon a second surface; for the boy was
looking down upon the palm of his hand, so that
an image could not bo formed upon the smoke
(which was copious, but not dense,) between his
eye and the supposed mirror. The grand diffi-
culty of the case is the exhibition of " the correct
appearance of private individuals unknown to
fame," as remarked in the " Quarterly Review,"
in which a curious note, presenting " some new
features of difficulty," is appended. With the
most remarkable of the facts there related I was
acquainted ; but I was not bold enough to insert
them. I may now, however, here mention them.
Two travellers (one of them, M. Leon DC Laborde;
the other, an Knglishraan), both instructed by
the magician 'Abd-El-fiTadir, are stated to have
succeeded in performing similar feats. Who this
Englishman was, I have not been able to learn.
He positively denied all collusion, and asserted
that he did nothing but repeat the forms taught
him by the magician.
Since the foregoing note was written, 1 have
twice witnessed performances of this now-noto-
rious magician, which were absolute failures;
and so, I have been informed by others, have
been almost all of his later attempts. Hence,
and from an observation made to me by him in
the presence of the late Lord Nugent (that ho
was generally successful in the life-time ol
'Osman, who was his usual interpreter, and who
died shortly after my second visit to Kgypt), 1
can hardly help inferring that, in most cases,
leading questions put unconsciously by 'Osmdn,
as well as by others, who were persons of educa-
tion and intelligence, and in other cases shrewd
guesses, were the main causes of his success. I
cannot, by the supposition of leading questions,
account for his succeeding in the cases that fell
under my own observation ; but these, as I have
stated above, " full short of what he had accom-
plished, in many instances, in presence oi cer-
tain of my friends and countrymen."
( 276 )
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAKACTEK.
THE natural or innate character of the modern Egyptians is altered,
in a remarkable degree, by their religion, laws, and government, as
well as by the climate and other causes ; and to form a just opinion
of it is, therefore, very difficult. We may, however, confidently state,
that they are endowed, in a higher degree than most other people,
with some of the more important mental qualities ; particularly, quick-
ness of apprehension, a ready wit, and a retentive memory. In youth,
they generally possess these and other intellectual powers ; but the
causes above alluded to gradually lessen their mental energy.
Of the leading features of their character, none is more remark-
able than their religious pride. They regard persons of every other
faith as the children of perdition ; and such, the Muslim is early
taught to despise. 1 It is written in the Kur-an, " ye who have
believed, take not the Jews and Christians as friends : they are friends,
one to another ; and whosoever of you taketh them as his friends,
verily he is [one] of them."* From motives of politeness, or selfish
interest, these people will sometimes talk with apparent liberality of
sentiment, and even make professions of friendship, to a Christian
(particularly to a European), whom, in their hearts, they contemn :
but as the Muslims of Egypt judge of the Franks in general from
the majority of those in their towns, some of whom are outcasts from
their native countries, and others (though not all the rest, of course),
1 1 am credibly Informed that children in Egypt jest, of those who have received the Scripture
are often taught, at school, a regular set of curses before you, and the unbelievers [or polytheists],
to denounce upon the persons and property of as friends; (but fear God, if ye be believers ;) and
Christians, Jews, and all other unbelievers in the [those who], when ye call to prayer, make it
religion of Mohammad. See Appendix D. [namely, the prayer,] a laughing-stock and a jest.
* Chap. v. ver. 66. Verses 62 and 63 of the This [they do] because they are a people who do
same chapter explain the reason of this precept : not understand." (The words enclosed in brackets
"O ye who have believed, take not those who are from the commentary of the Gclaleyn.)
have made your religion a laughing-stock and a
CHARACTER. 277
men under no moral restraint, they are hardly to be blamed for
despising them. The Christians are, however, generally treated with
civility by the people of Egypt : the Muslims being as remarkable
for their toleration as for their contempt of unbelievers.
It is considered the highest honour, among the Muslims, to be
religious ; but the desire to appear so leads many into hypocrisy and
Pharisaical ostentation. When a Muslim is unoccupied by business
or amusement or conversation, he is often heard to utter some pious
ejaculation. If a wicked thought, or the remembrance of a wicked
action that he has committed, trouble him, he sighs forth, " I beg
forgiveness of God, the Great I" 1 The shop-keeper, when not engaged
with customers, nor enjoying his pipe, often employs himself, in the
sight and hearing of the passengers in the street, in reciting a chapter
of the Kur-an, or in repeating to himself those expressions in praise
of God which often follow the ordinary prayers and are counted with
the beads ; and in the same public manner he prays. The Muslims
frequently swear by God (but not irreverently) ; and also, by the
Prophet, and by the head, or beard, of the person they address. When
one is told anything that excites his surprise and disbelief, he generally
exclaims, " Wa-llah ?" or, " Wa-Mhi ?" (by God ?) ; and the other
replies, "Wa-llahi!" As on ordinary occasions before eating and
drinking, so, too, on taking medicine, commencing a writing or any
important undertaking, and before many a trifling act, it is their
habit to say, " In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful ;"
and after the act, "Praise be to God." When two persons make
any considerable bargain, they recite together the first chapter of the
Kur-an (the Fat'hah). In case of a debate on any matter of business
or of opinion, it is common for one of the parties, or a third person
who may wish to settle the dispute, or to cool the disputants, to
exclaim, " Blessing on the Prophet !" 2 " God, bless him!" 8 is
said, in a low voice, by the other or others ; and they then continue
the argument; but generally with moderation.
Religious ejaculations often interrupt conversation upon trivial
and even licentious subjects, in Egyptian society ; sometimes, in such
a manner that a person not well acquainted with the character of this
people would perhaps imagine that they intended to make religion a
jest. In many of their most indecent songs, the name of God is
1 " Astaghfir Allah cl-'A?eem." or " Bless ye (or bless thou) the Prophet !"
* " Ee-salah 'a-n-nebee " (for " 'ala-n-nebee ") ; " Salloo (or sallee) 'a-n-nebee."
3 " Allahum (for Allahumma) sallee 'aleyh."
278 CHAFFER XIII.
frequently introduced; and this is certainly done without any profane
motive, but froin the habit of often mentioning the name of the Deity
in vain, and of praising Him on every trifling occasion of surprise, or
in testimony of admiration of anything uncommon. Thus, a libertine,
describing his impressions on the first sight of a charming girl (in
one of the grossest songs I have ever seen or heard even in the Arabic
language), exclaims, "Extolled be He who formed thee, full
moon !" and this and many similar expressions are common in many
other songs and odes: but what is most remarkable in the song
particularly alluded to above is a profane comparison with 'which it
terminates. I shall adduce, as an example of the strange manner
in which licentiousness and religion are often blended together in
vulgar Egyptian poetry and rhyming prose, a translation of the last
three stanzas of an ode on love and wine :
" She granted me a reception, the graceful of form, after her distance and coyness.
1 kissed her teeth and her check ; and the cup rang in her hand. The odours of musk
and ambergris were diffused by a person whose form surpassed the elegance of a
straight and slender branch. She spread a bed of brocade ; and 1 passed the time
in uninterrupted happiness. A Turkish fawn enslaved me.
" Now I beg forgiveness of God, my Lord, for all my faults and sins ; and for all
that my heart hath said. My members testify against me. Whenever grief oppresseth
me, Lord, Thou art my hope from whatever atflicteth me. Thou knowest what 1
say, and what 1 think. Thou art the Bountiful, the Forgiving ! I implore thy pro-
tection : then pardon me.
"And 1 praise that benignant being 1 whom a cloud was wont to shade; the
comely : how great was his comeliness ! He will intercede for us on the day of judg-
ment, when his haters, the vile, the polytheists, shall be repentant. Would that 1
might always, as long as 1 live, accompany tho pilgrims, to perform the circuits and
worship and courses, and live in uninterrupted happiness!"
In translating the first of the above stanzas, I have substituted the
feminine for the masculine pronoun : for, in the original, the former
is meant, though the latter is used ; as is commonly the case in similar
compositions of the Egyptians. One of my Muslim friends having
just called on me, after my writing the above remarks, I read to him
the last four stanzas of this ode ; and asked him if he considered it
proper thus to mix up religion with debauchery. He answered,
" Perfectly proper : a man relates his having committed sins ; and
then prays to God for forgiveness, and blesses the Prophet." " But/'
said I, " this is an ode written to be chanted for the amusement of
persons who take pleasure in unlawful indulgences : and see here,
The Prophet.
CHARACTER. 279
when I close the leaves, the page which celebrates a debauch comes
in contact, face to face, with that upon which are written the names
of the Deity : the commemoration of the pleasures of sin is placed
upon the prayer for forgiveness." "That is nonsense," replied my
friend : " turn the book over : place that side upwards which is now
downwards ; and then the case will be the reverse ; sin covered by
forgiveness: and God, whose name be exalted, hath said in the
Excellent Book, ' Say, my servants who have transgressed against
your own souls, despair not of the mercy of God ; seeing that God
forgiveth all sins [unto those who repent] : for He is the Very Forgiv-
ing; the Merciful/" 1 His answer reminds me of what I have often
observed, that the generality of Arabs, a most inconsistent people,
are every day breaking their law in some point or other, trusting
that two words (" Astaghfir Allah," or " I beg forgiveness of God/')
will cancel every transgression. He had a copy of the Kur-dn in his
hand ; and on my turning it over to look for the verse he had quoted,
I found in it a scrap of paper containing some words from the
venerated volume : he was about to burn this piece of paper, lest it
should fall out, and be trodden upon; and on my asking him whether
it was allowable to do so, he answered that it might either be burnt,
or thrown into running water ; but that it was better to burn it, as
the words would ascend in the flames, and be conveyed by angels
to heaven. Sometimes the Kur-an is quoted in jest, even by persons
of strict religious principles. For instance, the following equivocal
and evasive answer was once suggested to me on a person's asking
of me a present of a watch, which, I must previously mention, is called
'" sa'ah," a word which signifies an " hour/' and the " period of the
general judgment :" " Verily, the sa'ah shall come : I will surely make
it to appear " (ch. xx. v. 15).
There are often met with, in Egyptian society, persons who will
introduce an apposite quotation from the Kur-an or the Traditions of
the Prophet in common conversation, whatever be the topic ; and an
interruption of this kind is not considered, as it would be in general
society in our own country, either hypocritical or annoying ; but rather
occasions expressions, if not feelings, of admiration, and often diverts
the hearers from a trivial subject to matters of a more serious nature.
The Muslims of Egypt, and, I believe, those of other countries, are
generally fond of Conversing on religion ; and the most prevalent
1 Jur-dn, ch. xxxix. v. 54.
280 CHAPTER XIII.
mode of entertaining a party of guests among the higher and middle
ranks in this place (Cairo) is 'the recital of a "khatrneh" (or the
whole of the Iur-&n), which is chanted by fikees, hired for the pur-
pose ; or the performance of a " zikr/' which has been before men-
tioned. Few persons among them would venture to say that they
prefer hearing a concert of music to the performance of a khatmeh or
zikr; and they certainly do take great pleasure in the latter per-
formances. The manner in which the Kur-an is sometimes chanted
is, indeed, very pleasing ; though I must say that a complete khatmeh
is, to me, extremely tiresome. With the religious zeal of the Muslims,
I am daily struck : yet I have often wondered that they so seldom
attempt to make converts to their faith. On my expressing my sur-
prise, as I have frequently done, at their indifference with respect to
the propagation of their religion, contrasting it with the conduct of
their ancestors of the early ages of El-Islam, I have generally been
answered, " Of what use would it be if I could convert a thousand
infidels ? Would it increase the number of the faithful ? By no
means : the number of the faithful is decreed by God ; and no act of
man can increase or diminish it." Tie contending against such an
answer would have led to an interminable dispute : so I never ven-
tured a reply. I have heard quoted, by way of apology for their
neglecting to make proselytes, the following words of the Kur-an :
" Dispute not against those who have received the Scriptures " l
(namely, the Christians and Jews), without the words immediately
following, "unless in the best manner; except against such of them
as behave injuriously [towards you] : and say [unto them], We
believe in [the revelation] that hath been sent down unto us, and
[also in that] which hath been sent down untowyou: and our God
and your God is one." 8 If this precept were acted upon by the
Muslims, it might perhaps lead to disputes which would make them
more liberal-minded, and much better informed.
The respect which most modern Muslims pay to their Prophet is
almost idolatrous. They very frequently swear by him ; and many
of the most learned, as well as the ignorant, often implore his inter-
cession. Pilgrims are generally much more affected on* visiting his
tomb than in performing any other religious rite. There are some
1 Ch. xxix. v. 45. considered as abrogated by that ofc the sword."
8 In the first edition of the present work, copy- These words might lead the feader into error, as
ing Sale, who gives no authority for the remark, is shewn by what I have said on the subject of
I here added, " This precept is, however, generally war in page 93.
CHAEACTBK. 281
Muslims who will not do anything that the Prophet is not recorded to
have done; and who particularly abstain from eating anything that he
did not eat, though its lawfulness be undoubted. The Imm Ahmad
Ibn-Hambal would not even eat water-melons, because, although he
knew that the Prophet ate them, he could not learn whether he ate them
with or without the rind, or whether he broke, bit, or cut them : and
he forbade a woman, who questioned him as to the propriety of the act,
to spin by the light of torches passing in the street by night, which
were not her own property, because the Prophet had not mentioned
whether it was lawful to do so, and was not known to have ever availed
himself of a light belonging to another person without that person's
leave. I once, admiring some very pretty pipe-bowls, asked the maker
why he did not stamp them with his name. He answered, " God
forbid ! My name is Ahmad " (one of the names of the Prophet) :
" would you have me put it in the fire V 9 I have heard adduced as
one of the subjects of complaint against the Basha, his causing
the camels and horses of the government to be branded with his
names, " Mohammad 'Alee." " In the first place," said a friend of
mine, who mentioned this fact to me> " the iron upon which are en-
graved these names, names which ought to be so much venerated, the
names of the Prophet (God bless and save him), and his Cousin (may
God be well pleased with him), is put into the fire, which is shocking :
then it is applied to the neck of a camel ; and causes blood, which is
impure, to flow, and to pollute the sacred names both upon the iron
and upon the animal's skin : and when the wound is healed, how pro-
bable is it, and almost certain and unavoidable, that the camel will,
when he lies down, lay his neck upon something unclean !"
A similar feeling is the chief reason why the Muslims object to
printing their books. * They have scarcely a book (I do not remember
to have seen one) that does not contain the name of God : it is a rule
among them to commence every book with the words, " In the name
of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," and to begin the preface
or introduction by praising God, and blessing the Prophet ; and they
fear some impurity might be contracted by the ink that is applied to
the name of the Deity, in the process of printing, or by the paper to
be impressed with that sacred name, and perhaps with words taken
from the Kur-dn. They fear, also, that their books, becoming very
cheap by being printed, would fall into the hands of infidels ; and are
much shocked at the idea of using a brush composed of hogs' hair
(which was at first done here) to apply the ink to the name, and often
2 o
282 CHAPTER XIII.
to the words, of God. Hence, books have hitherto been printed in
Egypt only by order of the government : but two or three persons
have lately applied for, and received, permission to make use of the
government-press. I am acquainted with a bookseller here who has
long been desirous of printing some books which he feels sure would
bring him considerable profit ; but cannot overcome his scruples as to
the lawfulness of doing so.
The honour which the Muslims shew to the Kur-an is very
striking. They generally take care never to hold it, or suspend it,
in such a manner as that it shall be below the girdle ; and they
deposit it upon a high and clean place ; and never put another book,
or anything else, on the top of it. On quoting from it, they usually
say, " He whose name be exalted " (or " God, whose name be ex-
alted ") " hath said, in the Excellent Book." They consider it ex-
tremely improper that the sacred volume should be touched by a
Christian or a Jew, or any other person not a believer in its doctrines ;
though some of them are induced, by covetousness, but very rarely,
to sell copies of it to such persons. It is even forbidden to the
Muslim to touch it unless he be in a state of legal purity; and
hence, these words of the book itself " None shall touch it but they
who are purified " l are often stamped upon the cover. The same
remarks apply, also, to anything upon which is inscribed a passage
of the Kur-an. It is remarkable, however, that most of the old
Arab coins bear inscriptions of words from the Kur-an, or else the
testimony of the faith ("There is no deity but God: Mohammad is
God's Apostle ") ; notwithstanding they were intended for the use of
Jews and Christians, as well as Muslims: but I have heard this
practice severely condemned. On my once asking one of my Muslim
friends whether figs were esteemed wholesome in Egypt, he answered,
" Is not the fig celebrated in the Kur-an ? God swears by it : ' By
the fig and the alive P " (ch. xcv. v. 1).
There is certainly much enthusiastic piety in the character of the
modern Muslims, notwithstanding their inconsistencies and super-
stitions : such, at least, is generally the case. There are, I believe,
very few professed Muslims wha are really unbelievers; and these
dare not openly declare their unbelief, through fear of losing their
heads for their apostacy. I have heard of two or three such, who
have been rendered so by long and intimate intercourse with Euro-
i ur-&n, ch. Ivt. v. 78.
CHARACTER. 283
peans; and have met with one materialist/ who has often had long
discussions with me. In preceding chapters of this work, several
practices indicative of the religious feeling which prevails among the
Muslims of Egypt have been incidentally mentioned. Religious
appeals are generally used by the beggars in this country: some
examples of these will be given hereafter. Of a similar nature, also,
are the cries of many of the persons who sell vegetables, &c. The
cry of the nightly watchman in the quarter in which I lived in Cairo
during my first visit struck me as remarkable for its beauty and
sublimity " I extol the perfection of the living King, who sleepeth
not nor dieth." l The present watchman, in the same quarter,
exclaims, " Lord ! Everlasting !" 2 Many other illustrations of
the religious character of the people whom I am endeavouring to
portray might be added. I must, however, here acknowledge, that
religion has much declined among them and most others of the same
faith. Whoever has been in the habit of conversing familiarly with
the modern Muslims must often have heard them remark, with a
sigh, "It is the end of time \" "The world has fallen into infi-
delity." They are convinced that the present state of their religion
is a proof that the end of the world is near. The mention which I
have made, in a former chapter, of some of the tenets of the
Wahhabees, as being those of the primitive Muslims, shews how
much the generality of the modern professors of the faith of the
Kur-an have deviated from the precepts originally delivered to its
disciples.
Influenced by their belief in predestination, the men display, in
times of distressing uncertainty, an exemplary patience, and,^ after
any afflicting event, a remarkable degree of resignation and fortitude,
approaching nearly to apathy ; 3 generally exhibiting their sorrow only
by a sigh, and the exclamation of " Allah kereem 1" (God is bounti-
ful !) but the women, on the contrary, give vent to their grief by
the most extravagant cries and shrieks. While the Christian justly
blames himself for every untoward event which he thinks he has
brought upon himself, or might have avoided, the Muslim enjoys a
remarkable serenity of mind in all the vicissitudes of life. When he
sees his end approaching, his resignation is still conspicuous: he
i "Subhan cl-melik el-hei el-lezee Id yenam to see them weep; and such a demonstration of
walk yemoot !" feeling is not considered by them as unmanly :
a "Yarabb! Y&daim!" even heroes are frequently represented, in their
a They are not, however, so apathetic as some romances and histories, as weeping under heavy
travellers have supposed ; for it is not uncommon affliction.
234 CHAPTER XIII.
exclaims, " Verily to God we belong ; and verily to Him we return !"
and to those who inquire respecting his state, in general his reply is,
" Praise be to God ! Our Lord is bountiful." His belief in pre-
destination does not, however, prevent his taking any step to attain
an object that he may have in view ; not being perfectly absolute, or
unconditional : nor does it in general make him careless of avoiding
danger ; for he thinks himself forbidden to do so by these words of
the Koir-an, 1 " Throw not yourselves 2 into perdition;" except in
some cases; as in those of pestilence and other sicknesses; being
commanded, by the Prophet, not to go into a city where there is a
pestilence, nor to come out from it. The lawfulness of quarantine is
contested among Muslims ; but the generality of them condemn it.
The same belief in predestination renders the Muslim utterly
devoid of presumption with regard to his future actions, or to any
future events. He never speaks of anything that he intends to do,
or of any circumstance which he expects and hopes may come to pass,
without adding, " If it be the will of God ;" 3 and, in like manner, in
speaking of a past event of which he is not certain, he generally pre-
faces or concludes what he says with the expression, "God is all-
knowing" (or, " most knowing"). 4
Benevolence and charity to the poor are virtues which the Egyptians
possess in an eminent degree, and which are instilled into their hearts
by religion ; but from their own profession it appears that they are
as much excited to the giving of alms by the expectation of enjoying
corresponding rewards in heaven, as by pity for the distresses of their
fellow-creatures, or a disinterested wish to do the will of God. It
may be attributed, in some measure, to the charitable disposition of
the inhabitants, that beggars are so numerous in Cairo, The many
handsome "Sebeels," or public fountains (buildings erected and
endowed for the gratuitous supply of water to passengers), which
are seen in this city, and the more humble structures of the same
kind in the villages and fields, are monuments of the same virtue. 5
In my earlier intercourse with the people of Egypt, I was much
pleased at observing their humanity to dumb animals ; to see a per-
son, who gathered together the folds of his loose clothes to prevent
their coming in contact with a dog, throw, to the impure animal, a
i Ch. ii. v. 191. "AlMhu a^lam."
'* Literally, "your hands;" but in the Com- 5 The larger sebeels of Cairo are generally of
meatary of the Ctelaleyn, the meaning is said to the period of the Turkish Bashas and Memlook
be " yourselves,* Beys.
* "Ia-sh4a-114h~."
CHARACTER. 285
portion of the bread which he was eating. Murders, burglaries, and
other atrocious and violent crimes, were then very rare among them.
Now, however, I find the generality of the Egyptians very much
changed for the worse, with respect to their humanity to brutes and
to their fellow-creatures. The increased severity of the government
seems, as might be expected, to have engendered tyranny, and an
increase of every crime, in the people : but I am inclined to think
that the conduct of Europeans has greatly conduced to produce this
effect ; for I do not remember to have seen acts of cruelty to dumb
animals except in places where Franks either reside or are frequent
visiters, as Alexandria, Cairo, and Thebes. It is shocking to see the
miserable asses which are used for carrying dust, &c., in Cairo ; many
of them with large crimson wounds, like carbuncles, constantly chafed
by rough ropes of the fibres of the palm-tree which are attached to
the back part of the pack-saddle. The dogs in the streets are fre-
quently beaten, both by boys and men, from mere wantonness ; and
I often see children amusing themselves with molesting the cats,
which were formerly much favoured. 1 Robberies and murders, during
two or three months after my second arrival here, were occurrences
of almost every week. Most of the Turkish governors of districts
used to exercise great oppression over the fellaheen : but since persons
of the latter class have been put in the places of the former, they have
exceeded their predecessors in tyranny; and it is a common remark,
that they are " more execrable than the Turks." 8
Though I now frequently see the houseless dogs beaten in the
streets of Cairo, and that when quite inoffensive and quiet, I still
often observe men feeding them with bread, &c. ; and the persons
who do so are mostly poor men. In every district of this city are
many small troughs, which are daily replenished with water for the
dogs. In each street where there are shops, a sakka receives a
small monthly sum from each shopman for sprinkling the street,
and filling the trough or troughs for the dogs in that street. There
1 I think it proper to remark here, that I have a bag to destroy in this manner. The proverb
good reason for believing Burckhardt to have upon which this statement is founded perhaps
been misinformed when stating (see his "Arabic alludes to a mode of destroying serpents; but not
Proverbs," No. 393) that children in the East (in for sport.
Egypt, &c.,) torture serpents by putting them into a " The oppression of the Turks, rather than
a leathern bag, then throwing unslaked lime upon the justice of the Arabs," is a proverb often heard
them, and pouring water on it. I find no one from the mouth of the Arab peasant; -who, in this
who has heard of such cruelty; and it is not ease, applies the term "Arabs" to his own class,
likely that boys in this country would dare to put instead of the Bedawees, to whom it now usually
a serpent in a bag (for they are excessively afraid belongs. See Burckhardt's "Arabic Proverbs/'
of this reptile), or would give several piasters for No. 176.
386 CHAPTER XIII.
is also a dogs' trough under almost every shop of a " sharbetlee,"
or seller of sherbets. It may here be mentioned, that the dogs of
Cairo, few of which have masters, compose regular and distinct
tribes; and the dogs of each tribe confine themselves to a certain
district or quarter, from which they invariably chase away any 'strange
dog that may venture to intrude. These animals are very numerous
in Cairo. They are generally careful to avoid coming in contact
with the men; as if they knew that the majority of the people of
the city regard them as unclean : but they often bark at persons in
the Frank dress ; and at night they annoy every passenger. They are of
use in eating the offal thrown out from the butchers' shops, and from
houses. Many dogs also prowl about the mounds of rubbish around
the metropolis ; and these, with the vultures, feed upon the carcasses
of the camels, asses, &c., that die in the town. They are mostly
of a sandy colour ; and seem to partake of the form and disposition
of the- jackal.
The general opinion of the Muslims, which holds the dog to be
unclean, does not prevent their keeping this animal as a house-guard,
arid sometimes even as a pet. A curious case of this kind occurred a
short time ago. A woman in this city, who had neither husband
nor child nor friend to solace her, made a dog her companion.
Death took this only associate from her; and, in her grief and her
affection for it, she determined to bury it ; and not merely to commit it
to the earth without ceremony, but to inter it as a Muslim, in a
respectable tomb, in the cemetery of the Imam Esh-Shafe'ee, which
is regarded as especially sacred. She washed the dog according to
the rules prescribed to be observed in the case of a deceased Muslim,
wrapped it in handsome grave-clothes, sent for a bier, and put it in ;
then hired several wailing-women ; and, with them, performed a
regular lamentation. This done (but not without exciting the wonder
of her neighbours, who could not conjecture what person in her
house was dead, yet would not intrude, because she never associated
with them), she hired a number of chanters, to head the funeral-
procession, and school-boys, to sing, and carry the Kur-dn before
the bier ; and the train went forth in respectable order ; herself and
the hired wailing-women following the bier, and rending the air with
their shrieks : but the procession had not advanced many steps,
wher^ one of the female neighbours ventured to ask the afflicted lady
>vho the person was that was dead ; and was answered, " It is my
poor child." The inquirer charged her with uttering a falsehood;
CHARACTER. 287
and the bereaved lady confessed that it was her dog; begging, at
the same time, that her inquisitive neighbour would not divulge the
secret ; but, for an Egyptian woman to keep a secret, and such a
secret, was impossible : it was immediately made known to the
by-standers ; and a mob, in no good humour, soon collected, and put
a stop to the funeral. The chanters and the singing-boys and
wailing-women vented their rage against their employer (as soon as
they had secured their money) for having made fools of them ; and
if the police had not interfered, she would probably have fallen a
victim to popular fury/
It is a curious fact, that, in Cairo, houseless cats are fed at the
expense of the Kadee ; or, rather, almost wholly at his expense. Every
afternoon, a quantity of offal is brought into the great court before the
Mahkemeh ; and the cats are called together to eat. The SuMn Ez-
Zahir Beybars (as I learn from the Bash-Katib of the Kadee)
bequeathed a garden, which is called " gheyt el-kuttah " (or the
garden of the cat), near his mosque, on the north of Cairo, for the
benefit of the cats: but this garden has been sold, over and over
again, by the trustees and purchasers : the former sold it on pretence
of its being too much out of order to be rendered productive, except
at a considerable expense ; and it now produces only a " hekr " (or
quit-rent) of fifteen piasters a year, to be applied to the maintenance
of the destitute cats. Almost the whole expense of their support has,
in consequence, fallen upon the Kadee, who, by reason of his office,
is the guardian of this and all other charitable and pious legacies,
and must suffer for the neglect of his predecessors. Latterly, however,
the duty of feeding the cats has been very inadequately performed.
Many persons in Cairo, when they wish to get rid of a cat, send or
take it to the Knee's house, and let it loose in the great court.
The affability of the Egyptians towards each other has been
mentioned in a preceding chapter. Towards foreigners who do not
conform with their manners and customs, and profess the same way
of thinking, they are polite in their address, but cold and reserved, or
parasitical, in conversation. With such persons, and even among
themselves, they often betray much impertinent curiosity. They are
generally extremely afraid of making to themselves enemies; and
1 D'Herbelot mentions a somewhat similar case, of a Muslim, and escaped punishment (perhaps a
in which" a Turk, having buried a favourite dog severe one) by informing the judge that his dog
with some marks of respect, in his garden, was had made a will, leaving to him (the K&dee) a
accused, before the Kddee, of having interred the sum of money. (Bibliotheque Orientalc, art.
animal with the ceremonies practised at the burial Cadhi.)
288 CHAPTER XIII.
this fear frequently induces them to uphold each other, even when
it is criminal to do so.
Cheerfulness is another remarkable characteristic of this people.
Some of them profess a great contempt for frivolous amusements;
but most take pleasure in such pastimes ; and it is surprising to see
how easily they are amused : wherever there are crowds, noise, and
bustle, they are delighted. In their public festivals, there is little
to amuse a person of good education ; but the Egyptians enjoy them
as much as we do the best of our entertainments. Those of the
lower orders seem to be extremely happy with their pipes and coffee,
after the occupations of the day, in the society of the coffee-shop.
Hospitality is a virtue for which the natives of^the Bast in general
are highly and deservedly admired j and the people of Egypt are well
entitled to commendation on this account. A word which signifies
literally "a person on a journey" ("musafir") is the term most
commonly employed in this country in the sense of a visiter or
guest. There are very few persons here who would think of sitting
down to a meal, if there were a stranger in the house, without
inviting him to partake of it, unless the latter were a menial ; in
which case, he would be invited to eat with the servants. It would
be considered a shameful violation of good manners if a Muslim
abstained from ordering the table to be prepared at the usual time
because a visiter happened to be present, Persons of the middle
classes in this country, if living in a retired situation, sometimes
take their supper before the door of their house, and invite every
passenger of respectable appearance to eat with them. This is very
commonly done among the lower orders. In cities and large towns,
claims on hospitality are unfrequent ; as there are many wekalehs, or
kh&ns, where strangers may obtain lodging ; and food is very easily
procured : but in the villages, travellers ace often lodged and enter-
tained by the Sbeykh or some other inhabitant ; and if the guest be
a person of the middle or higher classes, or even not very poor, he
gives a present to his host's servants, or to the host himself. In the
desert, however, a present is seldom received from a guest. By a
Sunneh law, a traveller may claim entertainment, of any person able
to afford it to him, for three days, The account of Abraham's enter-
taining the three angels, related in the Bible, presents a perfect
picture of the manner in which a modern Bedawee sheykh receives
travellers arriving at his encampment. He immediately orders his
wife or women to make bread ; slaughtqfs a sheep or some other
CHARACTER. 219
animal, and dresses it in haste ; and bringing milk and any other
provisions that he may have ready at hand, with the bread, and the
meat which he has dressed, sets them before his guests. If these be
persons of high rank, he stands by them while they eat ; as Abraham
did in the case above alluded to. Most Bedawees will suffer almost
any injury to themselves or their families rather than allow their
guests to be ill-treated while under their protection. There arc
Arabs who even regard the chastity of their wives as not too precious
to be sacrificed for the gratification of their guests; 1 and at an
encampment of the Bishareen, I ascertained that there are many
persons in this great tribe (which inhabits a large portion of the
desert between the Nile and the lied Sea) who offer their un-
married daughters to their guests, merely from motives of hospitality,
and not for hire.
There used to be, in Cairo, a numerous class of persons called
" Tufeyleeyeh " or " Tufeylees " (that is, Spungers), who, taking
advantage of the hospitality of their countrymen, subsisted entirely
by spun gin g: but this class has, of late, very much decreased in
number. Wherever there was an entertainment, some of these
worthies were almost sure to be found ; and it was only by a present of
money that they could be induced to retire from the company. They
even travelled about the country, without the smallest coin in their
pockets, intruding themselves into private houses whenever they
wanted a meal, or practising various tricks for this purpose. Two of
them, I was told, a little while since, determined to go to the festival
of the seyyid El-Bedawee, at Tanta; an easy journey of two days and
a half from Cairo. Walking at their leisure, they arrived at the
small town of Kalyoob at the end of their first day's journey ; and
there found themselves at a loss for a supper. One of them went to
the Kadee ; and, after saluting him, said, " Kadee, I am a traveller
from the Sharkeeyeh, going to Masr ; and I have a companion who
owes me fifty purses, which he has with him at present, and refuses
to give me ; and I am actually in want of them." " Where is he ?"
said the Kadee. " Here, in this town/' answered the complainant.
The Ka(lee sent a rasool to bring the accused ; and in the mean time,
expecting considerable fees for a judgment in such a case, ordered
a good supper to be prepared ; which K&dees of country towns
or villages generally do in similar circumstances. The two men
1 See Burckhardt's Notes on tfle Bedouins, &e., 8vo. edition, vol. i. pp. 179 and 180.
2 P
290 CHAPTER XIII.
were invited to sup and sleep before the case was tried. Next
morning, the parties were examined : the accused admitted that he
had in his possession the fifty purses of his companion ; and said
that he was ready to give them up ; for they were an encumbrance
to him; being only the paper purses in which coffee was sold.
" We are Tufeylees," he added ; and the Kadee, in anger, dismissed
them.
The natives of Egypt in general, in common with the Arabs of
other countries, are (according to our system of morals) justly charge-
able with a fault which is regarded by us as one of great magnitude :
it is want of gratitude.i But this I am inclined to consider a relic
of the Bedawee character; and as arising from the very common
practice of hospitality and generosity, and from the prevailing opinion
that these virtues are absolute duties which it would be disgraceful
and sinful to neglect.
The temperance and moderation of the Egyptians, with regard to
diet, are very exemplary. Since my first arrival in Egypt, I have
scarcely ever seen a native of this country in a state of intoxication ;
unless it were a musician at an entertainment, or a dancing girl, or low
prostitute. It hardly need be added that they are extremely frugal.
They shew a great respect for bread, as the staff of life, 2 and on no
account suffer the smallest portion of it to be wasted, if they can
avoid it. I have often observed an Egyptian take up a small piece of
bread, which had by accident fallen in the street or road, and, after
putting it before his lips and forehead three times, place it on one
side, in order that a dog might eat it, rather than let it remain to be
trodden under foot. The following instance of the excessive and
unreasonable respect of the Egyptians for bread has been related to
me by several persons ; but I must say that I think it hardly credible.
Two servants were sitting at the door of their master's house,
eating their dinner, when they observed a Memlook Bey, with several
of his officers, riding along the street towards them. One of these
servants rose, from respect to the grandee, who, regarding him with
indignation, exclaimed, " Which is the more worthy of respect, the
i It has been remarked that this is inconsistent thanks : had he done so, it would have implied
with the undeniable gratitude which the Arabs his thinking me a person of mean disposition,
feel towards God. To such an objection they who regarded a positive duty as an act imposing
would reply, " We are entitled to the good offices obligation. Hence the Arab usually acknowledges
of our fellow-creatures by the law of God; but can a benefit merely by a prayer for the long life, &c.,
claim no benefit from our Maker." I once afforded of his benefactor.
a refuge to a Bedawee who was in fear for his * The name which they give to it is '"eysh,"
life; but on parting, he gave me not a word of which literally signifies "life."
CHARACTER. 291
bread that is before you, or myself?" Without waiting for a reply,
he made, it is said, a well -understood signal with his hand ; and the
unintending offender was beheaded on the spot.
The higher and middle orders of Muslims in Egypt are scrupu-
lously cleanly ; and the lower orders are more so than in most other
countries : but were not cleanliness a point of their religion, perhaps
it would not be so much regarded by them. From what has been
said in a former chapter of this work, 1 it appears that we must not
judge of them, with respect to this quality, from the dirty state in
which they generally leave their children. Their religious ablutions
were, certainly, very wisely ordained; personal cleanliness being so
conducive to health in a hot climate. The Egyptians in general are
particularly careful to avoid whatever their religion has pronounced
unclean and polluting. One of their objections against wine is, that
it is unclean ; and I believe that very few of them, if any, could be
induced by any means, unless by a considerable bribe, to eat the
smallest piece of pig's flesh ; except the peasants of the Boheyreh (the
province on the west of the western branch of the Nile), many of
whom eat the flesh of the wild boar, and rats. 8 I was once amused
with the remark of a Muslim, on the subject of pork : he observed
that the Franks were certainly a much-calumniated people : that it
was well known they were in the habit of eating swine's flesh ; but
that some slanderous persons here asserted that it was not only the
flesh of the unclean beast that was eaten by the Franks, but also its
skin, and its entrails, and its very blood. On being answered that
the accusation was too true, he burst forth with a most hearty curse
upon the infidels, devoting them to the lowest place in hell.
Many of the butchers who supply the Muslim inhabitants of the
metropolis with meat are Jews. A few years ago, one of the principal
'Ulama here complained of this fact to the Basha ; and begged him
to put a stop to it. Another of the 'Ulama, hearing that this person
had gone to make the complaint above mentioned, followed him, and
urged, before the Basha, that the practice was not unlawful. " Ad-
duce your proof," said the former. " Here," answered the other,
" is my proof, from the word of God, ' Eat of that whereon the name
of God hath been commemorated.'" 8 The chief of the Jewish
butchers was then summoned, and asked whether he said anything
1 Page 57. same people ; of whom there are also a few in
8 Dogs, too, are eaten by many Maghrabeea Cairo, in the quarter of Teyloon
settled at Alexandria, and by descendants of the 3 gur-an, ch. vi. v. 118.
292 CHAPTER XIII.
previously to slaughtering an animal : be answered, f Yes : we always
say, as the Muslims, 'In the name of God. God is most great :' and
we never kill an animal in any other way than by cutting its throat."
The complaint was consequently dismissed.
A few days ago, a man, purchasing a fateereh of a baker in this
city, saw him take out of his oven a dish of pork which he had been
baking for a Frank ; and, supposing that the other things in the oven
might have been in contact with the unclean meat, and thus con-
taminated, immediately brought a soldier from the nearest guard-
house, and caused the baker (who was in no slight alarm, and pro-
tested that he was ignorant of there being any pig's flesh in his oven,)
to be conducted before the Zabit. This magistrate considered the
case of sufficient importance to be referred to the Basha's deewan ;
and the president of this council regarded it as of too serious and
difficult a nature for him to decide, and accordingly sent the accused
to be judged at the Mahkemeh. The Kadee desired the opinion of
the Muftee, who gave the following sentence : That all kinds of
food, not essentially or radically impure, were purified, of any pollu-
tion which they might have contracted, by fire ; and consequently,
that whatever thing of this description was in the oven, even if it had
been in contact with the pork, was clean as soon as it had been baked.
A short time since, the Basha received, from Europe, a set of
mattresses and cushions stuffed with horse-hair, to form a deewan for
his hareem. The ladies opened one of the cushions, to ascertain what
was the substance which rendered them so agreeably elastic; and,
disgusted in the highest degree at seeing what they supposed to be
hogs' hair, insisted upon throwing away the whole deew&n.
A Frenchman who was employed here, a few years ago, to refine
sugar, by the present Basha, made use of blood for this purpose ; and
since that, very few of the people of this country have ventured to eat
any sugar made by the Franks : the Basha was also obliged to prohibit
the use of blood in his own sugar-bakeries ; and the white of eggs has
been employed in its stead. Some of the Egyptians, seeing the Euro-
pean sugar to be very superior to that made here, use it ; holding the
doctrine that what is originally clean may become clean again after
pollution : but I am obliged to keep the coarse Egyptian sugar for
the purpose of making sherbet for my visiters ; some of whom hold
long discussions with me on this subject.
It is. a general custom among the Egyptians, after washing clothes,
to pour clean water upon them, and to say, in doing so, " I testify
CHARACTER. &93
that there is no deity but God ; and I testify that Mohammad is
God's Apostle." 1 In speaking of their religion, I have mentioned
several other practices instituted for the sake of cleanliness ; most of
which are universally observed. But, notwithstanding these cleanly
practices and principles, and their custom of frequently going,to the
bath, the Egyptians do not change their linen so often as some people
of more northern climates, who needaiot so much to do this frequently :
they often go to the bath in a dirty shirt; and, after a thorough
washing, put on the same again.
Filial piety is one of the more remarkable virtues of this people.
The outward respect which they pay to their parents I have already
had occasion to mention. Great respect i^ also shewn by the young
to those far advanced in age ; 2 and more ^specially to such as are re-
puted men of great piety or learning.
Love of their country, and more especially of home, is another
predominant characteristic of the modern Egyptians. In general,
they have a great dread of quitting their native land. I have heard
of several determining to visit a foreign country, for the sake of con-
siderable advantages in prospect ; but when the time of their intended
departure drew near, their resolution failed them. Severe oppression
has lately lessened this feeling ; which is doubtless owing, in a great
degree, to ignorance of foreign lands and their inhabitants. It was
probably from the same feeling prevailing among the Arabs of his
time, that Mohammad was induced to promise such high rewards in
a future world to those who fled their country for the sake of his
religion. I have heard it remarked as a proof of the extraordinary
love which the Egyptians have for their native place, that a woman
or girl in this country will seldom consent, or her parents allow her,
to marry a man who will not promise to reside with her in her native
town or village ; but I rather think that the reluctance to change the
place of abode in this case arises from the risk which the female
incurs of wanting the protection of her relations. The Bedawees are
so attached to their deserts, and have so great a contempt for people
who reside in towns, and for agriculturists, that it is a matter of
surprise that so many of them were induced to settle even upon the
fertile banks of the Nile. The modern Egyptians, though in a great
degree descended' from Bedawees, while they resemble the Bedawees in
1 To express that a person has done this, they say, " shahad el-hawaig," for ghasal el-tyawaig wa-
tcshahliad 'aleyha." a See Leviticus, xix. 32.
294 CHAPTER XIII.
love of their native country, have a horror of the desert. One journey
in the desert furnishes them with tales of exaggerated hardships,
perils, and wonders, which they are extremely fond of relating to their
less experienced countrymen.
Indolence pervades all classes of the Egyptians, except those who
are obliged to earn their livelihood by severe manual labour. It is
the result of the climate, and of the fecundity of the soil. Even the
mechanics, who are extremely greedy of gain, will generally spend
two days in a work which they might easily accomplish in one; and
will leave the most lucrative employment to idle away their time with
the pipe : but the porter, the groom, who runs before his master's
horse, and the boatmen, who are often employed in towing the vessels
up the river during calm and very hot weather, as well as many other
labourers, endure extreme fatigue.
The Egyptians are also excessively obstinate. I have mentioned,
in a former chapter, that they have been notorious, from ancient
times, that is, from the period of the Roman domination, for refusing
to pay their taxes until they have been severely beaten ; and that
they often boast of the number of stripes which they have received
before they would part with their money. Such conduct is very
common among them. I was once told that a fellah, from whom
the value of about four shillings was demanded by his governor,
endured so severe a bastinading rather than pay this paltry sum,
which he declared he did not possess, that the governor ordered him
to be dismissed; but, striking him on his face as he limped away,
there fell out of his mouth a gold coin of the exact value of the sum
demanded of him ; so that his beating, terrible as it was, fell short
of what was necessary to make him pay. This disposition seems a
strange peculiarity in their character; but it is easily accounted for
by the fact that they know very well, the more readily they pay, the
more will be exacted from them. In other respects, however, they
are extremely obstinate and difficult to govern ; though very obse-
quious in their manners and professions. It is seldom that an
Egyptian workman can be induced to make a thing exactly to order :
he will generally follow his own opinion in preference to that of his
employer ; and will scarcely ever finish his work by the time he has
promised.
Though very submissive to their governors, the felMheen of Egypt
are not deficient in courage when excited by feuds among each other ;
and they become excellent soldiers.
CHARACTER, 295
In sensuality, as far as it relates to the indulgence of libidinous
passions, the Egyptians, as well as other natives of hot climates,
certainly exceed more northern nations - y yet this excess is not to be
attributed merely to the climate, but more especially to the institu-
tion of polygamy, to the facility with which divorcements are accom-
plished whenever a man may wish to marry a new wife, and to the
custom of concubinage. It is even said, and, I believe, with truth,
that, in this respect, they exceed the neighbouring nations, whose
religion and civil institutions are similar; 1 and that their country
still deserves the appellation of " the abode of the wicked," which,
in the Kur-an/ is, according to the best commentators, applied to
ancient Egypt, if we take the word here translated " wicked " in its
more usual modern sense of " debauchees." A vice for which the
Memlooks who governed Egypt were infamous was so spread by
them in this country as to become not less rare here than in almost
any other country of the East ; but of late years, it is said to have
much decreased.
The most immodest freedom of conversation is indulged in by
persons of both sexes, and of every station of life, in Egypt ; even by
the most virtuous and respectable women, with the exception of a
very few, who often make use of coarse language, but not unchaste.
From persons of the best education, expressions are often heard so
obscene as only to be fit for a low brothel ; and things are named,
and subjects talked of, by the most genteel women, without any idea
of their being indecorous, in the hearing of men, that many prostitutes
in our country would probably abstain from mentioning.
The women of Egypt have the character of being the most licen-
tious in their feelings of all females who lay any claim to be con-
sidered as members of a civilized nation ; and this character is freely
bestowed upon them by their countrymen, even in conversation with
foreigners. Numerous exceptions doubtless exist ; and I am happy
to insert the following words translated from a note by my friend the
sheykh Mohammad 'Eiyad Et-Tantawee, on a passage in " The
Thousand and One Nights/ 7 a Many persons reckon marrying a
second time among the greatest of disgraceful actions. This opinion
is most common in the country-towns and villages ; and the relations
of my mother are thus characterized, so that a woman of them, when
This is not meant to reflect upon the Turks, nor upon the Arabs of the desert. * (j n . vii. v. 142.
296 CHAFfEK XIII.
her husband dies while she is young, or divorces her while she is
young, passes her life, however long it may be, in widowhood, and
never marries a second time." But with respect to the majority of
the Egyptian women, it must, I fear, be allowed that they are very
licentious. What liberty they have, many of them, it is said, abuse ;
and most of them are not considered safe, unless under lock and key ;
to which restraint few are subjected. It is believed that they possess
a degree of cunning in the management of their intrigues which the
most prudent and careful husband cannot guard against, and con-
sequently that their plots are seldom frustrated, however great may
be the apparent risk of the undertakings in which they engage.
Sometimes, the husband himself is made the unconscious means of
gratifying his wife's criminal propensities. Some of the stories of
the intrigues of women in "The Thousand and One Nights" present
faithful pictures of occurrences not unfrequent in the modern metro-
polis of Egypt. Many of the men of this city are of opinion that
almost all the women would intrigue if they could do so without
danger ; and that the greater proportion of them do. I should be
sorry to think that the former opinion was just; and I am almost
persuaded that it is over-severe, because it appears, from the customs
with regard to women generally prevailing here, that the latter must
be false. The difficulty of carrying on an intrigue with a female in
this place can hardly be conceived by a person who is not moderately
well acquainted with Eastern customs and habits. It is not only
difficult for a woman of the middle or higher classes to admit her
paramour into the house in which she resides, but it is almost impos-
sible for her to have a private interview with a man who has a hareem,
in his own house ; or to enter the house of a man who is neither
married nor has a concubine slave, without attracting the notice of
the neighbours, and causing their immediate interference. But as
it cannot be denied that many of the women of Egypt engage in in-
trigues notwithstanding such risks, it may perhaps be true that the
difficulties which lie in the way are the chief bar to most others.
Among the females of the lower orders, intrigues are more easily ac-
complished, and frequent.
The libidinous character of the generality of the women of Egypt,
and the licentious conduct of a great number of them, may be
attributed to many causes ; partly, to the climate, and partly, to their
want of proper instruction, and of innocent pastimes and employ-
CHARACTER. 297
ments : l but it is more to be attributed to the conduct of the
husbands themselves ; and to conduct far more disgraceful to them
than the utmost severity that any of them is known to exercise in the
regulations of his hareem. The generality of husbands in Egypt
endeavour to increase the libidinous feelings of their wives by every
means in their power; though, at the same time, they assiduously
study to prevent their indulging those feelings unlawfully. The
women are permitted to listen, screened behind their windows of
wooden lattice-work, to immoral songs and tales sung or related in
the streets by men whom they pay for this entertainment ; and to
view the voluptuous dances of the ghawfizee, and of the effeminate
khawals. The ghawazee, who are professed prostitutes, are not
unfrequently introduced into the hareems of the wealthy, not merely
to entertain the ladies with their dances, but to teach them their
voluptuous arts; and even indecent puppets are sometimes brought
into such hareems for the amusement of the inmates. Innumerable
stories of the artifices and intrigues of the women of Egypt have been
related to ine. The following narratives of late occurrences will serve
as specimens.
A slave-dealer, who had been possessed of property which enabled
him to live in comfort, but had lost the greater part of it, married a
young and handsome woman in this city, who had sufficient wealth
to make up for his losses. He soon, however, neglected her ; and as
he was past the prime of life, she became indifferent to him, and
placed her affections upon another man, a dustman, who had been in
the habit of coming to her house. She purchased, for this person, a
shop close by her house ; gave him a sum of money to enable him to
pursue a less degraded occupation, as a seller of grain and fodder ;
and informed him that she had contrived a plan for his visiting her
in perfect security. Her hareem had a window . with hanging
shutters ; and almost close before this window rose a palm-tree, out-
topping the house : this tree, she observed, would afford her lover a
means of access to her, and of egress from her apartment in case of
1 In the fij?st edition of the present work, I in- tiously disposed than the men, seemed to be an
eluded, among these supposed causes, the degree argument against the main principle of the con-
of restraint imposed upon the women, and their stitution of Eastern society. I did not consider
seclusion from open intercourse with the other that this argument is at least counterbalanced by
sex. This I did, not because confinement is said what I have before mentioned, that the women
to have this effect hi the West, where, being con- who are commonly considered the most licentious
trary to general custom, it is felt as an oppression, of all Eastern women (namely, those of Egypt,)
but because the assertion of the Egyptians, that are those who are said to have most licence.
the Eastern women in general are more licen-
298 CHAPTER XIII.
danger. She had only one servant, a female, who engaged to assist
her in the accomplishment of her desires. Previously to her lover's
first visit to her, she desired the servant to inform her husband of
what was about to take place in the ensuing night. He determined
to keep watch ; and, having told his wife that he was going out, and
should not return that night, concealed himself in a lower apartment.
At night, the maid came to tell him that the visiter was in the hareem.
He went up ; but found the hareem-door shut. On his trying to
open it, his wife screamed ; her lover, at the same time, escaping from
the window, by means of the palm-tree. She called to her neigh-
bours, " Come to my assistance ! Pray come ! There is a robber in
my house I" Several of them soon came ; and, finding her locked in
her room, and her husband outside the door, told her there was
nobody in the house but her husband and maid. She said that the
man they called her husband was a robber : that her husband was
gone to sleep out. The latter then informed them of what had
passed ; and insisted that a man was with her : he broke open the
door, and searched the room ; but, finding no man, was reprimanded
by his neighbours, and abused by his wife, for uttering a slander.
The next day, his wife, taking with her, as witnesses of his having
accused her of a criminal intrigue, two of the neighbours who had
come in on hearing her screams for assistance, arraigned her husband
at the Mahkemeh as the slanderer of a virtuous woman without the
evidence of his own sight or of other witnesses. Being convicted of
this offence, he was punished with eighty stripes, in accordance with
the ordinance of the Kur-6-n, 1 His wife now asked him if he would
divorce her ; but he refused. For three days after this event, they
lived peaceably together. On the third night, the wife, having
invited her lover to visit her, bound her husband, hand and foot,
while he was asleep, and tied him down to the mattress. Shortly
after, her lover came up, and, waking the husband, threatened him
with instant death if he should call, and remained with the wife for
several hours, in his presence. As soon as the intruder had gone,
the husband was unbound by his wife, and called out to his neigh-
bours, beating her at the same time with such violence that she, also,
began to call for assistance. The neighbours, coming in, and seeing
him in a fury, easily believed her assertion that he had become
raving mad, and, trying to soothe him with kind words, and prayers
1 Ch. xxiv. v. 4.
CHARACTER. 299
that God would restore him to sanity, liberated her from his grasp.
She procured, as soon as possible, a rasool from the Kadee; and
went, with him and her husband and several of her neighbours who
had witnessed the beating that she had received, before the judge.
The neighbours unanimously declared their opinion that her husband
was mad ; and the Kadee ordered that he should be conveyed to the
Maristan l (or common mad-ht>use) : but the wife, affecting to pity
him, begged that she might be allowed to chain him in an apartment
in her house, that she might alleviate his sufferings by waiting upon
him. The Kaclee assented; praising the benevolence of the woman,
and praying that God might reward her. She accordingly procured
an iron collar and a chain from the M&ristan, and chained him in a
lower apartment of her house. Every night, in his presence, her
lover visited her : after which she importuned him in vain to divorce
her ; and when the neighbours came in daily to ask how he was, the
only answer he received to his complaints and accusations against his
wife was, " God restore thee. God restore thee." Thus he continued
about a month; and his wife, finding that he still persisted in
refusing to divorce her, sent for a keeper of the M&ristan to take
him. The neighbours came round as he left the house: one ex-
claimed, " There is no strength nor power but in God ! God restore
thee." Another said, " How sad ! He was really a worthy man." A
third remarked, " Badingans 2 are very abundant just now." While
he was confined in the Maristan, his wife came daily to him, and
asked him if he would divorce her : on his answering, " No," she
said, "Then chained you may lie until you die; and my lover shall
come to me constantly." At length, after seven months' confinement,
he consented to divorce her ; upon which she procured his liberation ;
and he fulfilled his promise. Her lover was of too low a grade to
become her husband; so she remained unmarried; and received
him whenever she pleased : but the maid revealed the true history of
this affair ; and it soon became a subject of common talk.
When the wife of a man of wealth or rank engages in a criminal
intrigue, both she and her paramour generally incur great danger. 3
A short time ago, the wife of an officer of high rank in the army
1 Vulgarly called "Muristdn." friends to me, "have lost their lives on account
2 Madness is said to be more common and more of women ! A very handsome young libertine, who
violent in Egypt when the black badingan (the lived in this house which you now occupy, was bc-
fruit of the black egg-plant) is in season: that is, headed here in the street, before his own door, for
in the hot weather. an intrigue with the wife of a Bey ; and all the
* " How many men, in Masr," said one of my women of Masr wept for him."
300 CHAPTER XIII.
took advantage of the absence of her husband from the metropolis
(where he always resided with her when not on military duty) to invite
a Christian merchant, of whom she had been in the habit of buying
silks, to pay her a visit. He went to her house at the time appointed,
and found a eunuch at the door, who took him to another house,
disguised him in the loose outer garments and veil of a lady, and
then brought him back, and introduced him to his mistress. He
passed nearly the whole of the night with her ; and, rising before
she awoke, put into his pocket a purse which he had given her, and
went down to the eunuch, who conducted him again to the house
where ,he had put on his disguise : having here resumed his own
outer clothes, he repaired to his shop. Soon after, the lady, who
had missed the purse, came, and taxed him with having taken it :
she told him that she did not want money, but only desired his
company; and begged him to come to her again in the ensuing
evening ; which he promised to do : but in the afternoon, a female
servant from the house of this lady came to his shop, and told him
that her mistress had mixed some poison in a bottle of water which
she had ordered to be given him to drink. This mode of revenge
is said to have been often adopted when the woman's paramour has
given her even a slight offence.
It is seldom that the wife of a Muslim is guilty of a criminal
intrigue without being punished with death if there be four witnesses
to the fact, and they or the husband prosecute her ; and not always
does she escape this punishment if she be detected by any of the
officers of justice : in the latter case, four witnesses are not required,
and often the woman, if of a respectable family, is put to death,
generally in private, on the mere arbitrary authority of the government :
but a bribe will sometimes save her ; for it will always be accepted,
if it can with safety. Drowning is the punishment now almost
always inflicted, publicly, upon women convicted of adultery in Cairo
and other large towns of Egypt, instead of that ordained by the
law, which is stoning. A poor woman of this city, a few months
before her story was related to me, married a man whose trade was
that of selling fowls, and, while living with him and her mother,
took three other lodgings, and married three other husbands; all
of whom were generally absent from the metropolis : so she calculated
that when any of these three persons came to town for a few days, she
might easily find an excuse to go to him. They happened, un-
fortunately for her, to come to town on the same day ; and all of
CHARACTER. 301
them went, the same evening, to inquire for her at her mother's
house. Being much embarrassed by their presence, and her first
husband being also with her, she feigned to be ill, and soon to
become insensible ; and was taken, by her mother, to an inner room.
One of the husbands proposed to give her something to restore her :
another wished to try a different remedy : they began to contend
which was the best medicine ; and one of them said, " I shall give
her what I please: is not she my wife ?" "Your wife!" exclaimed
each of the three other husbands at the same time : " she is my wife."
Eaeh*proved his marriage : the woman was taken to the Mahkemeh ;
tried; condemned to death; and thrown into the Nile. During
my first visit to this country, a similar case occurred : a woman
married three soldiers, of the niz&m, or regular troops. She was
buried in a hole, breast-deep, and then shot.
A woman may sometimes, but very rarely, trust in palliating
circumstances, or the support of powerful friends, to save her from
the penalty of death, in case of her detection in a criminal intercourse ;
as in the following instance. The Bdsha gave one of the slaves in
his hareem in marriage to a rich slave-merchant, from whom he had
purchased many of his memlooks and female slaves. This man was
not only unfaithful to her, but utterly neglected her; and she, in
consequence, formed an improper intimacy with a merchant of whom
she was a frequent customer. One day, when her husband was out,
a black slave belonging to him happened to see a man's head
at a small aperture in a window of the hareem. He immediately
went up to search the room of the wife ; who, hearing him coming,
locked her paramour in an adjoining closet. The slave broke open
the door of the closet ; and the man within rushed at him with a
dagger which he wore in his girdle ; but the former seized the blade
in his hand ; and the woman held him until her lover had escaped :
she then kissed the slave's hand, and implored him not to cause her
death by informing her husband of what had passed : she, however,
found him inexorable : he immediately went to his master, shewing
his bleeding hand, and telling him the cause of the wound. The
woman, meanwhile, fled to the B&sha's hareem, for protection. Her
husband demanded of the Bdsha that she should be given up, and
put to death ; and, the request being deemed a proper one, she was
brought before her former master to answer for her crime. She
threw herself at his feet; kissed the skirt of his clothing; and
acquainted him with her husband's vicious conduct, and his utter
302 CHAPTER XIII.
neglect of her; and the B&sha, feeling himself insulted by the
husband's conduct, spat in his face ; and sent back the wife to his
own hareem. Her paramour did not live long after this : he was
smothered in the house of some courtesans ; but none of these women
was punished ; as it could not be proved which of them committed
the act.
For their sentiments with regard to women, and their general
conduct towards the fair sex, the Egyptians, in common with other
Muslims, have been reprehended with too great severity. It is true
that they do not consider it necessary, or even delicate, to consult the
choice of a girl under age previously to giving her away in matri-
mony; but it is not less true that a man of the middle or higher
classes, almost always, makes his choice of a wife from hearsay, or as
a person blindfold ; having no means of seeing her until the contract
is made, and she is brought to his house. It is impossible, therefore,
that there should be any mutual attachment before marriage. Both
sexes, in truth, are oppressed by tyrannical laws and customs ; but,
happily, they regard their chains as becoming and honourable : they
would feel themselves disgraced by shaking them off. As to the re-
str$int which is exercised towards the women, I have before remarked
that it is in a great degree voluntary on their part, and that I believe
it to be less strict in Egypt than in any other country of the Turkish
empire : it is certainly far less so than it has been represented to be
by many persons. They generally look upon this restraint with a
degree of pride, as evincing the husband's care for them ; and value
themselves upon their being hidden as treasures. 1 In good society, it
is considered highly indecorous to inquire, in direct terms, respecting
the health of a friend's wife, or of any female in his house, unless she
be a relation of the person who makes the inquiry. One of my
Egyptian acquaintances asking another native of this country, who
had been in Paris, what was the most remarkable thing that he had
seen in the land of the infidels, the latter, thinking lightly of all that
he had observed really worthy of exciting the admiration of an unpre-
judiced and a sensible man, gave the following answer : " I witnessed
nothing so remarkable as this fact. It is a custom of every person
aniong the rich and great, in Paris and other cities of France, frequently
to invite his friends and acquaintances, both men and women, to an
1 A respectable female is generally addressed, jewel" ("es-sitt cl-masooneh wo-l-guhorah cl-
iu a letter, as "the guarded lady, and eoneealed meknooneh").
CHARACTER. 303
entertainment in his house. The rooms in which the company are
received are lighted with a great number of candles and lamps.
There, the men and women assemble promiscuously ; the women, as
you well know, unveiled ; and a man may sit next to another's wife,
whom he has never seen before, and may walk, talk, and even dance
with her, in the very presence of her own husband, who is neither
angry nor jealous at' such disgraceful conduct."
The Egyptians are equally remarkable for generosity and cupidity.
That two such opposite qualities should be united in the same mind is
not a little surprising ; but such is generally the case with this people.
An overreaching and deceitful disposition in commercial transactions,
which is too common among all nations, is one of the most notorious
faults of the Egyptian : in such cases, he seldom scruples to frame a
falsehood which may better his bargain. Among people who groan
beneath the yoke of a tyrannical and rapacious government (and such
has long been the government of Egypt), a disposition to avarice in-
variably predominates : for a man is naturally most tenacious of that
which is most liable to be taken from him ; and hence the oppressed
Egyptian, when he has a sum of money which he does not require for
necessary expenses, and cannot profitably employ, generally lays it out
in the purchase of ornaments for his wife or wives ; which ornaments
he can easily convert again into money. Hence, also, it is a common
practice in this country (as it is, or has been, in almost every country
under similar political circumstances,) for a man to hide treasure in
his house, under the paved floor, or in some other part ; and as many
a person who does so dies suddenly, without being able to inform his
family where is his " makhba," or hiding-place, money is not unfre-
quently discovered on pulling down houses. A vice near akin to cupi-
dity, namely envy, I believe to be equally prevalent among the modern
Egyptians, in common with the whole Arab race ; for many of them
arc candid enough to confess their own opinion that this hateful dis-
position is almost wholly concentrated in the minds of their nation.
The Egyptians are generally honest in the payment of debts.
Their Prophet asserted that even martyrdom would not atone for a
debt undischarged. Few of them ever accept interest for a loan of
money ; as it is strictly forbidden by their law.
Constant veracity is a virtue extremely rare in modern Egypt.
Falsehood was commended by the Prophet when it tended to reconcile
persons at variance with each other : also, when practised in order to
please one's wife ; and to obtain any advantage in a war with the
304 CHAPTER XIII.
enemies of the faith : though highly reprobated in other cases. This
offers some little palliation of the general practice of lying which pre-
vails among the modern Arabs ; for if people are allowed to lie in cer-
tain cases, they insensibly contract a habit of doing so in others.
Though most of the Egyptians often lie designedly, they are seldom
heard to retract an unintentional misstatement without expressing
themselves thus: "No: I beg forgiveness of God: 1 it was so and
so ;" as, in stating anything of which they are not quite certain, they
say,. "God is all-knowing." 2 I may here mention (and I do it with
some feeling of national pride) that, some years ago, there was an
Armenian jeweller in this city (Cairo) so noted for his veracity, that
his acquaintances determined to give him some appellation significant
of his possessing a virtue so rare among them ; and the name they
gave him was " El-Ingileezee," or The Englishman, which has be-
come his family name. It is common to hear tradesmen in this place,
when demanding a price which they do not mean to abate, say, " One
word ; the word of the English :" 8 they also often say, " The word of
the Franks," in this sense : but I have never heard any particular
nation thus honourably distinguished except the English and the
Maghrabees, or Western Arabs, which latter people have acquired
this reputation by being rather more veracious than most other Arabs.
I have before mentioned the practice of swearing by God which
prevails among the Egyptians : I must here add, that many of them
scruple not to make use of an oath with the view of obtaining credit
to a falsehood. In this case, they sometimes say, " Wa-llahi^ ("By
God ") ; but more commonly, " Wa-llah ;" for, though the latter
expression has the same meaning as the former, they pretend that it
may also be used as an ejaculation in praise of God ; whereas
" Wa-llahi " is a decided oath, and, if uttered to a falsehood, is a
heinous sin. Such an oath, if violated, must be expiated by once
feeding or clothing ten poor men, liberating a Muslim slave, or captive,
or fasting three days. 4 This, however, is the expiation allowed by the
Kur-an only for an inconsiderate oath : yet the modern Muslims some-
times observe it in order to free themselves from the guilt of a deliberate
false oath ; and they generally prefer the fast to either of the other modes
of expiation. There are some oaths which, I believe, few Muslims would
falsely take j such as saying, three times, " By God, the Great ;" 5
i "La: astaghfir Allah." * ur-an, ch. v., v. 91.
" Allahu aalam." Wa-llahi-1-azeem."
3 " Kilmet el-Ingileez."
CHARACTER. 305
and the oath upon the mus-haf (or copy of the Kur-&n) saying, " By
what this contains of the word of God \" but a form of oath which is
still more to be depended upon is that of saying, " I impose upon my-
self divorcement " l (that is, the divorce of my wife, if what I say be
false) ; or, " I impose upon myself interdiction ;" B which has a similar
meaning (" My wife be unlawful to me ") ; or, " I impose upon my-
self a triple divorcement;" 3 which binds by the irrevocable divorce
of the wife. If a man use any one of these three forms of oath falsely,
his wife, if he have but one, is divorced by the oath itself, if proved
to be false, without further ceremony ; and if he have two or more
wives, he must, in such circumstances, choose one of them to put
away. There are, however, abandoned liars who will swear falsely
by the oath that is generally held most binding. A poet, speaking of
a character of this description, says,
" But Abu-1-Mo'alla is most false
When he swears by the oath of divorce."
The generality of the Egyptians are easily excited to quarrel;
particularly those of the lower orders, who, when enraged, curse each
other's fathers, mothers, beards, &c. ; and lavish upon each other a
variety of opprobrious epithets ; such as " son of the dog, pimp, pig/'
and an appellation which they think still worse than any of these,
namely, " Jew." When one curses the father of the other, the latter
generally retorts by cursing the father and mother, and sometimes
the whole household, of his adversary. They menace each other ; but
seldom proceed to blows. In a few instances, however, I have seen
low persons in this country so enraged as to bite, and grasp each
other by the throat. I have also witnessed many instances of forbear-
ance on the part of individuals of the middle and lower classes, when
grossly insulted : I have often heard an Egyptian say, on receiving
a blow from an equal, " God bless thee." " God requite thee good."
"Beat me again." In general, a quarrel terminates by one or both
parties saying, " Justice is against me :"* often, after this, they.recite
the Fat 'hah together; and then, sometimes, embrace and kiss* one
another.
The Egyptians are particularly prone to satire ; and often display
considerable wit in their jeers and jests. Their language affords them
great facilities for punning, and for ambiguous conversation, in which
"'Aleiya-t-talak." 3 " 'Aleiya-Halafc bi-t-telateh."
' '"Aleiya-1-haram." 4 " El-^V 'aleiya."
2 R
306 CHAPTER XIII.
they very frequently indulge. The lower orders sometimes lampoon
their rulers in songs, and ridicule those enactments of the government
by which they themselves most suffer. I was once much amused
with a song which I found to be very popular in the town and district
of Asw&n, on the southern frontier of Egypt : its burden was a plain
invocation to the plague to take their tyrannical governor and his
Copt clerk. Another song, which was popular throughout Egypt
during my first visit to this country, and which was composed on the
occasion of an increase of the income-tax called " firdeh," began
thus-: " You who have [nothing on your head but] a libdeh ! sell it,
and pay the firdeh." The libdeh, I have before mentioned, is a felt
cap, which is worn under, or instead of, the turban ; and the man
must be very poor who has no other covering than this for his head.
( 307 )
CHAPTER XIV.
INDUSTRY.
IT is melancholy to contrast the present poverty of Egypt with its
prosperity in ancient times, when the variety, elegance, and exquisite
finish displayed in its manufactures attracted the admiration of sur-
rounding nations, and its inhabitants were in no need of foreign
commerce to increase their wealth, or to add to their comforts.
Antiquarian researches shew us that a high degree of excellence in
the arts of civilized life distinguished the Egyptians in the age of
Moses, and at a yet earlier period. Not only the Pharaohs and the
priests and military chiefs, but also a great proportion of the wealthy
agriculturists, and other private individuals, in those remote times,
passed a life of the most refined luxury, were clad in linen of the
most delicate fabric, and reclined on couches and chairs which have
served as models for the furniture of our modern saloons. Nature is
as lavish of her favours as she was of old to the inhabitants of the
valley of the Nile; but, for many centuries, they have ceased to
enjoy the benefit of a steady government: each of their successive
rulers, during this long lapse of time, considering the uncertain
tenure of his power, has been almost wholly intent upon increasing
his own wealth ; and thus, a large portion of the nation has gradually
perished, and the remnant, in general, been reduced to a state of the
most afflicting poverty. The male portion of the population of Egypt
being scarcely greater than is sufficient for the cultivation of as much
of the soil as is subject to the natural inundation, or easily irrigated
by artificial means, the number of persons who devote themselves to
manufactures in this country is comparatively very small; and as
there are so few competitors, and, at present, few persons of wealth
to encourage them, their works in general display but little skill.
308 CHAPTER XLV.
But the low state of the manual arts has, in a great degree, been
occasioned by another cause : the Turkish Sultan Seleem, after his
conquest of Egypt, took with him thence to his own country, as re-
lated by El-Gabartee, 1 so many masters of crafts which were not
practised in Turkey, that more than fifty manual arts ceased to be
pursued in Egypt.
Painting and sculpture, as applied to the representation of living
objects, are, I have already stated, absolutely prohibited by the
religion of El-Islam: there are, however, some Muslims in Egypt
who attempt' the delineation of men, lions, camels, and other animals,
flowers, boats, &c., particularly in (what they call) the decoration of
a few shop-fronts, the doors of pilgrims' houses, &c. ; though their
performances would be surpassed by children of five or six years of
age in our own country. But the Muslim religion especially pro-
motes industry, by requiring that every man be acquainted with some
art or occupation by which he may, in case of necessity, be able . to
support himself and those dependant upon him, and to fulfil all his
religious and moral duties. The art in which the Egyptians most
excel is architecture. The finest specimens of Arabian architecture
are found in the Egyptian metropolis and its environs ; and not only
the mosques and other public buildings are remarkable for their
grandeur and beauty, but many of the private dwellings, also, attract
our admiration, especially by their interior structure and decorations.
Yet this art has, of late years, much declined, like most others in this
country : a new style of architecture, derived from the Turks, partly
Oriental and partly European, and of a very plain description, being
generally preferred. The doors, ceilings, windows, and pavements, of
the buildings in the older style, which have already been described,
display considerable taste, of a peculiar kind ; and so, too, do most of
the Egyptian manufactures ; though many of them are rather clumsy,
or ill finished. The turners of wood, whose chief occupation was that
of making the lattice-work of windows, were very numerous, and their
work was generally neater than it is at present : they have less em-
ployment now, as windows of modern houses are often made of glass.
The turner, like most other artisans in Egypt, sits to his work. In
the art of glass-making, for which Egypt was so much celebrated in
ancient times, the modern inhabitants of this country possess but
little skill : they have lost the art of manufacturing coloured glass for
1 Near the beginning of his History,
CHICKEN-OVENS. 309
windows ; but for the construction of windows of this material they
are still admired, though not so much as they were a few years ago,
before the adoption of a uew style of architecture diminished the
demand for their work. Their pottery is generally of a rude kind :
it mostly consists of porous bottles arid jars, for cooling, as well as
keeping, water. For their skill in the preparation of morocco leather,
they are justly celebrated. The branches and leaves of the palm-tree
they employ in a great variety of manufactures : of the former, they
make seats, coops, chests, frames for beds, &c. : of the latter, baskets,
panniers, mats, brooms, fly-whisks, and many other utensils. Of the
fibres also that grow at the foot of the branches of the palm-tree are
made most of the ropes used in Egypt. The best mats (which are
much used instead of carpets, particularly in summer,) arc made of
rushes. Egypt has lost the celebrity which it enjoyed in ancient
times for its fine linen : the linen and cotton and woollen cloths, and
the silks now woven in this country, are generally of coarse or poor
qualities.
The Egyptians have long been famous for the art of hatching
fowls' eggs by artificial heat. This practice, though obscurely de-
scribed by ancient authors, appears to have been common in Egypt
in very remote times. The building in which the process is performed
is called, in Lower Egypt, " maamal el-firakh," and, in Upper Egypt,
" maamal el-farroog :" in the former division of the country, there
are more than a hundfed such establishments; and in the latter,
more than half that number. Most of the superintendents, if not all,
are Copts. The proprietors pay a tax to the government. The maa-
mal is constructed of burnt or sun-dried bricks ; and consists of two
parallel rows of small ovens and cells for fire, divided by, a narrow,
vaulted passage; each oven being about nine or ten feet long, eight
feet wide, and five or six feet high, and having above it a vaulted fire-
cell, of the same size, or rather less in height. Each oven communi-
cates with the passage by an aperture large enough for a man to
enter; and with its fire-cell by a similar aperture: the fire-cells, also,
of the same row, communicate with each other; and each has an
aperture in its vault (for the escape of the smoke), which is opened
only occasionally : the passage, too, has several such apertures in its
vaulted roof. The eggs are placed upon mats or straw, and one tier
above another, usually to. the number of three tiers, in the ovens;
and burning " gelleh " (a fuel before mentioned, composed of the
dung of animals, mixed with chopped straw, and made into the form
310 CHAPTER XIV.
of round, flat cakes,) is placed upon the floors of the fire-cells above.
The entrance of the maamal is well closed. Before it are two or three
small chambers, for the attendant, and the fuel, and the chickens
when newly hatched. The operation is performed only during two or
three months in the year, in the spring ; earliest in the most southern
parts of the country. Each maamal in general contains from twelve
to twenty-four ovens ; and receives about a hundred and fifty thou-
sand eggs during the annual period of its continuing open; one
quarter or a third of which number generally fail. The peasants of
the neighbourhood supply the eggs: the attendant of the maamal
examines them, and afterwards usually gives one chicken for every
two eggs that he has received. In general, only half the number of
ovens are used for the first ten days, and fires are lighted only in the
fire-cells above these. On the eleventh day, these fires are put out,
and others are lighted in the other fire- cells, and fresh eggs placed in
the ovens below these last. On the following day, some of the eggs
in the former ovens are removed, and placed on the floor of the fire-
cells above, where the fires have been extinguished. The general
heat maintained during the process is from 100 to 103 of Fahren-
heit's thermometer. The manager, having been accustomed to this
art from his youth, knows, from his long experience, the exact tempe-
rature that is required for the success of the operation, without having
any instrument, like our thermometer, to guide him. On the twen-
tieth day, some of the eggs first put in are hatched; but most, on
the twenty-first day ; that is, after the same period as is required in
the case of natural incubation. The weaker of the chickens are
placed in the passage : the rest, in the innermost of the anterior
apartments, where they remain a day or two before they are given to
the persons to whom they are due. When the eggs first placed have
been hatched, and the second supply half hatched, the ovens in which
the former were placed, and which are now vacant, receive the third
supply; and, in like manner, when the second supply is hatched, a
fourth is introduced in its place. I have not found that the fowls,
produced in this manner are inferior in point of flavour, or in other
respects, to those produced from the egg by incubation. The fowls
and their eggs in Egypt are, in both cases, and with respect to size
and flavour, very inferior to those in our coiintry. In one of the
Egyptian newspapers published by order of -the government (No. 248,
for the 18th of Ramadan, 1246, or the 3rd of March, 1831, of our
era,) I find the following statement :
COMMERCE. 311
Lower Egypt.
Number of establishments for the hatching of fowls' eggs ) -.,*
in the present year . . . . . . J
Number of eggs used . -.10 32K finn
Upper Egypt.
69
6,878,900
2,529,660
4,349,240
Number spoiled ....
6,255,867
Number hatched ....
. 13,069,733
Though the commerce of Egypt has much declined since the dis-
covery of the passage from Europe to India by the Cape of Good
Hope, and in consequence of the monopolies and exactions of Mo-
hammad 'Alee and his successors, it is still considerable ; and during
the last few years it has been much improved by the numerous steam-
vessels plying between Alexandria and England, France, and Austria,
and between Suez and India, and by the establishment of railways in
Lower Egypt.
The principal imports from Europe are woollen cloths (chiefly
from France), calico, plain muslin, figured muslin (of Scotch manu-
facture, for turbans), silks, velvet, crape, shawls (Scotch, English, and
French,) in imitation of those of Kashmeer, writing-paper (chiefly
from Venice), fire-arms, straight sword-blades (from Germany) for
the Nubians, &c., watches and clocks, coffee-cups and various articles
of earthenware and glass (mostly from Germany), many kinds of
hardwares, planks, metal, beads, wine and liqueurs ; and white slaves,
silks, embroidered handkerchiefs and napkins, mouth-pieces of pipes,
slippers, and a variety of made goods, copper and brass wares, &c.,
from Constantinople : from Asia Minor, carpets (among which, the
seggadehs, or small prayer-carpets), figs, &c. : from Syria, tobacco,
striped silks, 'ab&yehs (or woollen cloaks), soap: from Arabia,
coffee, spices, several drugs, Indian goods (as shawls, silks, muslin,,
& c ) : from Abyssinia and Senndr and the neighbouring countries,
slaves, gold, ivory, ostrich -feathers, kurbags (or whips of hippopo-
tamus' hide), tamarind in cakes, gums, senna : from El-Gharb, or
the West (that is, northern Africa, from Egypt westwards), tarbooshes
(or red cloth skull-caps), burnooses (or white woollen hooded cloaks),
herams (or white woollen sheets, used for night-coverings and for
dress), yellow morocco shoes.
The principal exports to Europe are wheat, maize, rice, beans,
cotton, flax, indigo, coffee, various spices, gums, senna, ivory, ostrich-
feathers : to Turkey, male and female Abyssinian and black slaves
(including a few eunuchs), rice, coffee, spices, henna, &c. : to Syria,
slaves, rice, &c. : to Arabia, chiefly corn ; to Sennar and the neigh-
bouring countries, cotton and linen and woollen goods, a few Syrian
312 CHAPTER XIV.
and Egyptian striped silks, small carpets, beads and otljer ornaments,
soap, the straight sword-blades mentioned before, fire-arms, copper
wares, writing-paper.
To convey some notion of the value of money in Cairo, in late
years, I insert the following list of the prices of certain common
articles of food, &c., made during my second visit. (Since Egypt
has again become a highway to India, and a resort of travellers far
more numerous than they were a few years ago, the prices of com-
modities of every kind have very greatly increased.) In the country
towns and villages, most kinds of provisions are cheaper than in the
metropolis : meat, fowls, and pigeons, about half the prices here men-
tioned : wheat and bread, from about one third to half.
P. F. (. 8. d.)
Wheat, the ardebb (or about five bushels), from 50 P. to 63 (0 13 21 )
Rice, the ardebb, about 240 (2 8 )
Mutton or lamb, the ratl . .. . . . . 1 (0 2 )
Beef, do 35 (0 2 T y
Fowls, each, 1 P. 10 F. to 1 20 (0 3$ )
Pigeons, the pair, 1 P. 10 F. to 1 20 (0 3 )
Eggs, three for 6 (0 Oft)
Fresh butter, the ratl 2 (0 4J )
Clarified butter, do. 2 P. to 2 10 (0 5 )
Coffee, do. 6 P. to 7 (0 1 4J )
Gebelee tobacco, the ukkah, 15 P. to . . . . 18 (0 3 7J )
Sooroe do. do. 5 P. to . . . . 10 (0 2 )
Egyptian loaf-sugar, the ratl 2 (0 4 )
European do. do. 210 (0 5 )
Summer grapes do 10 (0 Ojj )
Later do. do. 20 F. to . . . . 30 (0 1|)
Fine biscuit, the kantar 160 (1 12 0)
Water, the kirbeh (or goat's skin), 10 F. to . . . 20 (0 IA )
Firewood, the donkey -load 11 (0 2 2| )
Charcoal, the ukkah, 20 F. to 30 (0 1| )
Soap, the ratl 1 30 (0 4J )
Tallow candles, the ukkah 8 20 (0 1 8 )
Best wax do. do 25 (0 5 )
Note. The "ratl" is about 15 J oz., and the "ukkah" nearly 2j Ibs., avoirdupois.
The " fcantar " is 100 ratls. P. denotes Piasters : F., Faddahs. For a full account of
Egyptian measures, weights, and moneys, see the Appendix.
There are in Cairo numerous buildings called " wekalehs," 1 chiefly
designed for the accommodation of merchants, and for the reception
of their goods. The wekaleh is a building surrounding a square or
1 " Wek&leh " (generally pronounced by the Franks occakh, occal, &c. } ) is for " Dr el-Wekdleh,'
signifying a, factory.
SHOPS. 313
oblong court. Its ground-floor consists of vaulted magazines for
merchandise, which face the court ; and these magazines are some-
times used as shops. Above them are generally lodgings, which are
entered from a gallery extending along each of the four sides of the
court ; or, in the place of these lodgings, there are other magazines ;
and in many wekalehs, which have apartments intended as lodgings,
these apartments are used as magazines. In general, a wek&leh has
only one common entrance; the door of which is closed at night, and
kept by a porter. There are about two hundred of these buildings in
Cairo; and three-fourths of that number are within that part which
constituted the original city.
It has already been mentioned, in the Introduction to this work,
that the great thoroughfare-streets of Cairo generally have a row of
shops along each side, not communicating with the superstructures.
So, too, have many of the by-streets. Commonly, a portion of a
street, or a whole street, consists chiefly, or solely, of houses with
shops appropriated to one particular trade; 1 and is called the Sook
(or Market) of that trade ; or is named after a mosque there situate.
Thus, a part of the main street of the city is called " Sook en-Nahha-
seen," or the market of the sellers of copper wares (or simply " the
Nahhuseen," the word " Sook " being usually dropped) ; another
part is called " the Gohargeeyeh," or [market of] the jewellers ;
another, "the Khurdageeyeh," or [market of] the sellers of hard-
wares; another, "the Ghooreeyeh," or [market of] the Ghooreeyeh,
which is the name of a mosque situate there. These are some of the
chief sooks of the city. The principal Turkish sook is called " Khan
El-Khaleelce." Some of the sooks are covered over with matting, or
with planks, supported by beams extending across the street, a little
above the shops, or aboye the houses.*
The shop (" dukkan ") is a square recess, or cell, generally about
six or seven feet high ; and between three and four feet in width :
or it consists of two cells, one behind the other; the inner one serv-
ing as a magazine. 3 The floor of the shop is even with the top of a
" mastabah," or raised seat of stone or brick, built against the front. 4
This is usually about two feet and a half, or three feet, in height ;
1 This has long been the case hi other Eastern (if more than his shop will contain) in this maga-
countries. See Jeremiah xxxvii. 21. zine, or in his private dwelling, or in a wekaleh.
* When I last quitted Egypt, it was said that * Since this was written, the mastabahs in most
most of these coverings were about to be removed. of the streets have been removed by order of the
8 The tradesman keeps his main stock of goods government.
: ' : " ;; ' '' ': , ' ' "'" '':''.'. ~ '. " : , ' -
BUYING AND SELLING. 315
and about the same in breadth. The front of the shop is furnished
with folding shutters, commonly consisting of three leaves, one above
another : the uppermost of these is turned up in front : the two other
leaves, sometimes folded together, are turned down upon the masta-
bah, and form an even seat, upon "which is spread a mat or carpet,
with, perhaps, a cushion or two. Some shops have folding doors
instead of the shutters above described. The shopkeeper generally
sits upon the mastabah, unless he be obliged to retire a little way
within his shop to make room for two or more customers, who mount
upon the seat, taking off their shoes before they draw up their feet
upon the mat or carpet. To a regular customer, or one who makes
any considerable purchase, the shopkeeper generally presents a pipe
(unless the former have his own with him, and it be filled arid
lighted), and he calls or sends to the boy of the nearest coffee-shop,
and desires him to T>ring some coffee, which is served in the same
manner as in the house, in small china cups placed within cups of
brass. Not more than two persons can sit conveniently upon the
mastabah of a shop, unless it be more spacious than is commonly the
case but some arc three or four feet broad ; and the shops to which
they belong, five or six feet in width ; and consequently these afford
room enough for four persons, or more, sitting in the Eastern fashion.
The shopman generally says his prayers upon the mastabah in the
sight of the passengers in the street. When he leaves his shop for a
few minutes, or for about half an hour, he cither relies for the protec-
tion of his property upon the next shopkeepers, or those opposite, or
hangs a net before his shop. He seldom thinks it necessary to close
and lock the shutters, except at night, when he returns to his house,
or when he goes to the mosque, on the Friday, to join in the noon-
prayers of that day. The apartments above the shops have been
described in the Introduction.
Buying and selling are here very tiresome processes to persons
unaccustomed to such modes of bargaining. When a shopkeeper is
asked the price of any of his goods, he generally demands more than
he expects to receive ; the customer declares the price exorbitant, and
offers about half or two-thirds of the sum first-named ; the price thus
bidden is, of course, rejected : but the shopkeeper lowers his demand ;
and then the customer, in his turn, bids somewhat higher than before :
thus they usually go on until they meet about half-way between the
sum first demanded and that first offered, and so the bargain is con-
cluded. But I believe that most of the tradesmen arc, by European
TRADES. 317
travellers, unjustly blamed for thus acting, since I have ascertained
that many an Egyptian shopkeeper will sell an article for a profit of
one per cent., and even less. When a person would make any but a
trifling purchase, having found the article that exactly suits him, he
generally makes up his rnind for a long altercation : he mounts upon
the mastabah of the shop, seats himself at his ease, fills and lights his
pipe, and then the contest of words commences, and lasts often half
an hour or even more. Sometimes the shopkeeper, or the customer,
interrupts the bargaining by introducing some irrelevant topic of con-
versation, as if the one had determined to abate his demand no further,
or the other to bid no higher : then again the haggling is continued.
The bargain being concluded, and the purchaser having taken his
leave, his servant generally receives, from the tradesman, a small pre-
sent of money, which, if not given spontaneously, he scruples not to
demand. In many of the sooks in Cairo auctions are held on stated
days, once or twice a week. They are conducted by " dellals " (or
brokers), hired either by private persons who have anything that they
wish to sell in this manner, or by shopkeepers ; and the purchasers
are of both these classes. The "dellals" carry the goods up and
down, announcing the sums bidden with cries of " harag " or " hantj,"
&c. Among the lower orders, a bargain of the most trifling nature
is often made with a great deal of vehemence of voice and gesture :
a person ignorant of their language would imagine that the parties
engaged in it were quarrelling, and highly enraged. The peasants
will often say, when a person asks the price of anything which they
have for sale, " Receive it as a present :" 1 this answer having become
a common form of speech, they know that advantage will not be taken
of it ; and when desired again to name the price, they will do so ; but
generally name a sum that is exorbitant.
It would be tedious and uninteresting to enumerate all the
trades pursued in Cairo. The principal of them are those of the
draper, or seller of materials for dress (who is simply called " t&gir,"
or merchant), and of the seller of ready-made dresses, arms, &c. (who
has the same appellation); the jeweller ("gohargce") ; the goldsmith
and silversmith (" sai'gh "), who only works by order ; the seller of
hardwares (" khurdagee ") ; the seller of copper wares (" nahhas ") ;
i As Kphron did to Abraham, when the latter commonly said with the view of avoiding the
expressed his wish to purchase the cave and field e'fi'ect of an evil eye.
of Machpelah. (Sec Genesis, xxiii. 11.) It is
318 CHAPTER XIV.
the tailor ("kheiydt'") ; the dyer (" sabbagh") ; the darner (" reffa") ;
the ornamental sewer and maker of shereet, or silk lace, &c. ("hab-
bak ") ; the maker of silk cords, &c. (" 'akkdd") ; the maker of pipes
(" shibukshee ") ; the druggist and perfumer ("'attar"), who also
sells wax candles, &c. j the tobacconist (" dakhakhinee ") ; the fruiterer
("fakihdnee ") ; the seller of dried fruits ("nukalee") ; the seller of
sherbet (" sharbetlee ") ; the oilman ("zeiyat"), who sells butter,
cheese, honey, &c., as well as oil ; the greengrocer (" khudaree ") ;
the butcher (" gezzar ") ; and the baker (" farran "), to whom bread,
meat, &c., are sent to be baked. There are many cooks' shops, where
kebab and various other dishes are cooked and sold ; but it is seldom
that persons eat at these shops, generally sending to them for pro-
visions when they cannot conveniently prepare food in their own
houses. Shopkeepers often procure their breakfast or dinner from
one of these cooks, who are called "tabbakhs." There are also
many shops in which fateerehs, and others in which boiled beans
(fool mudemmes), are sold. Both these articles of food have been
described in a former chapter. Many persons of the lower orders eat
at the shop of the " fatatiree " (or seller of fateerehs), or at that of
the "fowwdl" (or bean-seller).
Bread, vegetables, and a variety of eatables, are carried about for
sale. The cries of some of the hawkers are curious, and deserve to
be mentioned. The seller of " tirmis " (or lupins) often cries, " Aid !
Imbabee ! Aid !" 1 This is understood in two senses ; as an in-
vocation for aid to the sheykh El-Imbabee, a celebrated Muslim saint,
buried at the village of Imbabeh, on the west bank of the Nile, oppo-
site Cairo, in the neighbourhood of which village the best tirmis is
grown ; and also as implying that it is through the aid of the saint
above mentioned that the tirmis of Imbabeh is so excellent. The
seller of this vegetable also cries, " The tirmis of Imbabeh surpasses
the almond !"* Another cry of the seller of tirmis is, " how sweet
the little offspring of the river !" 3 This last cry, which is seldom
heard but in the country towns and villages of Egypt, alludes to the
manner in which the tirmis is prepared for food. To deprive it of its
natural bitterness, it is soaked, for two or three days, in a vessel full
of water, then boiled ; and, after this, sewed up in a basket of palm-
leaves (called " fard "), and thrown into the Nile, where it is left to
1 " Mcdcrl ya Imbabcc meded " a " Yii ma-Jjlii" (for "mii afcla") "bunci el-
a " Tirmis Imbabeh ye^hlib el-lfo." lal.ir."
SAKKAS. 319
soak again two or three days, after which it is dried, and eaten cold,
with a little salt. The seller of sour limes cries, " God make them
light [or easy of sale] ! limes !" 1 The toasted pips of a kind of
melon called " 'abdaMwee," and of the water-melon, are often
announced by the cry of " consoler of the embarrassed !
pips !" 2 though more commonly by the simple cry of " Roasted
pips !" 3 A curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat (" hala-
weh"), composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients, is,
" For a nail ! sweetmeat !" 4 He is said to be half a thief: chil-
dren and servants often steal implements of iron, &c., from the house
in which they live, and give them to him in exchange for his sweet-
meat. The hawker of oranges cries, " Honey ! oranges ! Honey \" b
And similar cries are used by the sellers of other fruits and vegetables, -
so that it is sometimes impossible to guess what the person announces
for sale, as when we hear the cry of " Sycamore-figs ! grapes !"
except by the rule that what is for sale is the least excellent of the
fruits, &c., mentioned ; as sycamore-figs are not so good as grapes. A
very singular cry is used by the seller of roses : " The rose was a
thorn ; from the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed." 7 This alludes
to a miracle related of the Prophet. The fragrant flowers of the
henna-tree (Lawsonia inermis, or Egyptian privet,) are carried about
for sale, and the seller cries, " Odours of paradise ! flowers of the
henna !" 8 A kind of cotton-cloth, made by machinery which is put
in motion by a bull, is announced by the cry of "The work of the
bull ! maidens !" 9
As the water of the wells in Cairo is slightly brackish, numerous
"sakkas" (carriers or sellers of water) obtain their livelihood by
supplying its inhabitants with water from the Nile. During the
season of the inundation, or rather during the period of about four
months after the opening of the canal which runs through the metro-
polis, the sakkas draw their water from this canal : at other times
they bring it from the river. It is conveyed in skins by camels and
asses, and sometimes, when the distance is short, and the skin small,
by the sakka himself. The water-skins of the camel (which are called
" rei ") are a pair of wide bags of ox-hide. The ass bears a goat's
i "Allah yehowwinhfc" (for " yuhowwinha ") fi " Gcmmeyz ya 'encb "
"yaleymoon." 1 "El-ward kan shok inin 'arak en-nebee
a " Ya muselli-1-ghalban ya libb " fcttah.
a " EMibb el-mohamma?." 8 " Rawdyeh" (for "rawaelj") "cl-genneh ya
* " Bi-mismar ya Ijalaweh." temcr tyenna."
s " ' Asal ya burtukan 'anal." " Shughl et-to"r ya bcntH."
SAKKAS. 321
skin (called " kirbeh ") ; so too does the sakka, if he have no ass.
The rei contain three or four kirbeh s. The general cry of the sakka
is, "0 ! may God compensate [me] !" ! Whenever this cry is heard,
it is known that a sakka is passing. For a goat's skin of water,
brought from a distance of a mile and a half, or two miles, he obtains
scarcely more than a penny.
Sakka Sharbeh.
There are also many sakkas who supply passengers in the streets
of the metropolis with water. One of this occupation is called " sakka
sharbeh :" his kirbeh has a long brass spout, and he pours the water
into a brass cup, or an earthen kulleh, for any one who would drink.
There is a more numerous class who follow the same occupation,
called " hemalees." These are mostly darweeshes, of the order of
the Rifii'ees, or that of the Beiyoomees, and are exempt from the
income-tax called firdeh. The hemalee carries, upon his back, a
vessel (called " ibreek ") of porous gray earth. This vessel cools the
water. Sometimes the hemalee has an earthen kulleh of water scented
with "moyet zahr" (or orange-flower-water), prepared from the
flowers of the "naring" (a bitter orange), for his best customers;
and often a sprig of naring is stuck in the mouth of his ibreek. He
also, generally, has a wallet hung by his side. From persons of the
" Ya 'owwacj Allah."
2 T
322
CHAPTER XTV.
higher and middle orders he receives from one to five faddahs for a
draught of water ; from the poor, either nothing, or a piece of bread
or some other article of food, which he puts in his wallet. Many
hemalees, and some sakkas who carry the goat's skin, are found at
the scenes of religious festivals, such as the moolids of saints, &c., in
Cairo and its neighbourhood. They are often paid, by visiters to the
tomb of a saint on such occasions, to distribute the water which they
carry to passengers ; a cupful to whoever desires. This work of
charity is called "tesbeel;" and is performed for the sake of the
saint, and on other occasions than moolids. The water-carriers who
are thus employed are generally allowed to fill their ibreeks or
Hemalees.
kirbehs at a public fountain, as they demand nothing from the
passengers whom they supply. When employed to distribute water
to passengers in the streets, &c., they generally chant a short cry,
inviting the thirsty to partake of the charity offered them in the
name of God, most commonly in the words, and to the air, here
following :
Se - beel
Al - Hh
Ya 'at
SELLERS OF SHERBET, &c.
and praying that paradise and pardon may be the lot of him who
affords the charitable gift; thus
El - gen - neh wa-1-magh-fi-reh lak, yd ?a - hcb es - sc - beel.
There are numerous other persons who follow occupations similar
to that of the hemalee. Among these are sellers of " 'erk-soos," or
infusion of licorice, mentioned in a former qhapter. The " 'erk-
sooscc " (or seller of this beverage) generally carries a red earthen jar
of the liquid on his left side, partly supported by a strap and chain,
'Erk-soosee.
and partly by his left arm : the mouth having some leef. (or fibres of
the palm-tree) stuffed into it. He also carries two or more brass or
china cups, which he knocks together. In the same manner, many
" sharbctlces " (or sellers of sherbet) carry about for sale " zebeeb "
(or infusion of raisins). The sharbetlee commonly bears, in his left
hand, the glass vessel of a "shceshch," filled with zebeeb; and a
large tin or copper jug full of the same, and several glass cups, 1 in his
right hand. Some sharbetlees carry, on the head, a round tinned
i "ICullehs."
324 CHAPTER XIV.
copper tray, with a number of glass cups of " teen meblool," or
" belalj meblool," which are figs and dates steeped in water ; and a
copper vessel, 1 or a china bowl, of the same. Sahlab (a thin jelly, made
of water, wheat-starch, and sugar, boiled, with a little cinnamon or
ginger sprinkled upon it, or made as a drink without starch,) is like-
wise carried about in the same manner ; and '* soobiy a 2 (which is a
drink made of the pips of the 'abdall&wee melon, moistened and
pounded, and steeped in water, which is then strained, and sweetened
with sugar, or made with rice instead of the pips,) is also vended in a
similar way, and carried in vessels like those used for zebeeb ; but the
glass cups are generally placed in a kind of trough of tin, attached,
by a belt, to the waist of the seller.
It has been mentioned before, that many poor persons in Cairo
gain their livelihood by going about to clean pipes. The pipe-cleaner
(" musellikatee ") carries a number of long wires for this purpose, in
three or four hollow canes, or tubes of tin, which are bound together,
Musellik&tee.
"Satfeh." 2 "Or "woobiyeh. 9
BEGGARS. 325
and slung to his shoulder. A small leathern bag, full of tow, to wind
round the top of the wire with which the pipe is cleaned, is attached
to the canes or tin tubes. The nmsellikdtee generally obtains no more
than a " nuss 4 faddah " (or aboui a quarter of a farthing) for each
pipe that he cleans.
A very great fiiimber of persons of both sexes among the lower
orders in Cairo, and many in other towns of Egypt, obtain their sub-
sistence by begging. As might be expected, not a few of these are
abominable impostors. There are some whose appearance is most
distressing to every humane person who sees them ; but who accu-
mulate considerable property. A case of this kind was made public
here a few months ago. A blind fellah, who was led through the
streets of the metropolis by a young girl, his daughter, both of whom
were always nearly naked, was in the daily habit of bringing to his
house a blind Turkish beggar, to sup with him. One evening, he
was not at home ; but his daughter was there, and had prepared the
supper for his Turkish friend, who sat and ate alone ; and, in doing
this, happened to put his hand on one side, and felt a jar full of
money, which, without scruple, he carried away with him. It con-
tained the sum of a hundred and ten purses (then equivalent to rather
more than five hundred and fifty guineas), in kheyreeyehs, or small
coins of nine piastres each. The plundered beggar sought redress at
the Citadel, and recovered his property, with the exception of forty
kheyreeyehs, which the thief had spent; but was interdicted from
begging in future. Children are often seen in Cairo perfectly naked ;
and I have several times seen females from twelve to twenty years of
age, and upwards, with only a narrow strip of rag round the loins,
begging in the streets of this city. They suffer little from exposure
of the bare person to the cold of winter, or the scorching sun of sum-
mer, being accustomed to it from infancy ; and the men may, if they
choose, sleep in some of the mosques. In other respects, also, their
condition is not quite so bad as their appearance might lead a stranger
to suppose. They are almost sure of qbtaining either food or money
sufficient for supplying the absolute wants of nature, in consequence
of the charitable disposition of their countrymen, and the common
habit which the tradespeople have of eating in their shops, and gene-
rally giving a morsel of their food to those who ask for it. There are
many beggars who spend the greater part of the day's gains to in-
1 A corruption of " nusf."
326 CHAFfEE XIV.
dulge themselves at night with the intoxicating hasheesh, which, for
a few hours, renders them, in imagination, the happiest of mankind.
The cries of the beggars of Cairo are generally appeals to God.
Among the most common are " Exciter of compassion ! O
Lord !" ' " For the sake of God ! ye charitable 1" 2 " I am seek-
ing from my Lord a cake of bread 1" 3 how bountiful Thou art !
Lord !"*"! am the guest of God and the Prophet !" 9 in the
evening, " My supper must be thy gift ! Lord !" 6 on the eve of
Friday, "The night of the excellent Friday!" 7 and on Friday,
"The excellent day of Friday;" 8 One who daily passed my door
used to exclaim, " Place thy reliance upon God ! There is none but
God !" and another, a woman, I now hear crying, " My supper must
be thy gift ! Lord ! from the hand of a bountiful believer, a tes-
tifier of the unity of God ! masters !" The answers which beggars
generally receive (for they are so numerous that a person cannot give
to all who ask of him) are, " God help thee!" 9 " God will sustain !" I0
" God give thec I" 11 " God content, or enrich, thee !" 1B They are
not satisfied by any denial but one implied by these or similar answers.
In the more frequented streets of Cairo, it is common to see a beggar
asking for the price of a cake of bread, which he or she holds in the
hand, followed by the seller of the bread. Some beggars, particularly
darweeshes, go about chanting verses in praise of the Prophet; or
beating cymbals, or a little kettle-drum. In the country, many dar-
weeshes go from village to village begging alms. I have seen them
on horseback ; and one I lately saw thus mounted, and accompanied
by two men bearing each a flag, and by a third beating a drum : this
beggar on horseback was going from hut to hut asking for bread.
The most important of the occupations which employ the modern
Egyptians, and that which (as before mentioned) engages all but a
very small proportion of them, is agriculture.
The greater portion of the cultivable soil is fertilized by the
natural annual inundation ; but the fields in the vicinity of the river
and of the large canals, and some others, in which pits are dug for
" Ya Mofcannin ya Rabb. ' ? Leylet el-gum'ah el-fadeeleh."
" Li-llah ya mohsineen." 8 " Y6m el-gum'ah el-fa4eeleh."
" Ana talib min 'and Rabbee ragheef 'cysh." " Allah yes&'fedak " (for "yus&'Sdak ").
"Ya ma-nta" (for "maenta") "kereem ya J0 " Allah yerzuk."
Rabb." 1J " Allah yagteek " (for " yoatcek ").
" Ana deyf Allah wa-n-ncbec." ia " Allah j eghneek " (for " yughncck ").
"'Ashaya 'alcyk ya Rabb."
T lie
328 CHAPTER XIV.
water, are irrigated by means of machines of different kinds. The
most common of these machines is the " shddoof," which consists of
two posts or pillars of wood, or of mud and canes or rushes, about five
feet in height, and less than three feet apart, with a horizontal piece
of wood extending from top to top, to which is suspended a slender
lever, formed of a branch of a tree, having at one end a weight chiefly
composed of mud, and at the other, suspended to two long palm-sticks,
a vessel in the form of a bowl, made of basket-work, or of a hoop and
a piece of woollen stuff or leather : with this vessel, the water is thrown
up to the height of about eight feet, into a trough hollowed out for
its reception. In the southern parts of Upper Egypt, four or five
shddoofs are required, when the river is at the lowest, to raise the
water to the level of the fields. There are many sMdoofs with two
levers, &c., which are worked by two men. The operation is extremely
laborious. Another machine much used for the same purpose, and
almost the only one employed for the irrigation of gardens in Egypt,
is the " sakiyeh." This mainly consists of a vertical wheel, which
raises the water in earthen pots attached to cords, and forming a con-
tinuous series ; a second vertical wheel fixed to the same axis, with
cogs ; and a large, horizontal, cogged wheel, which, being turned by
a pair of cows or bulls, or by a single beast, puts in motion the two
former wheels and the pots. The construction of this machine is of
a very rude kind ; and its motion produces a disagreeable creaking
noise. There is a third machine, called " taboot," used for the
irrigation of lands in the northern parts of Egypt, where it is only re-
quisite to raise the water a few feet. It somewhat resembles the
" sakiyeh :" the chief difference is, that, instead of the wheel with
pots, it has a large wheel with hollow jaunts, or fellies, in which the
water is raised. In the same parts of Egypt, and often to raise the
water to the channel of the "tdboot," a vessel like that of the
" sh&doof," with four cords attached to it, is also used. Two men,
each holding two of the cords, throw up the water by means of this
vessel, which is called "ka^weh." In the process of artificial irriga-
tion, the land is divided into small squares, by ridges of earth, or into
furrows ; and the water, flowing from the machine along a narrow
gutter, is admitted into one square or furrow after another.
The a rei" lands (or those which are naturally inundated) are,
with some exceptions, cultivated but once during the year. After the
waters have retired, about the end of October or beginning of
November, they are sown with wheat, barley, lentils, beans, lupins,
NAVIGATION OF THE NILE. 329
chick-peas, &c. This is called the "shitawec" (or winter) season.
But the " sharakee " lands (those which are too high to be" subject
to the natural inundation), and some parts of the rei, by artificial
irrigation are made to produce three crops every year ; though not
all the sharakee lands are thus cultivated. The lands artificially
irrigated produce, first, their shitawee crops ; being sown at the same
period as the rei lands, generally with wheat or barley. Secondly,
in what is called the "seyfee," or, in the southern parts of Egypt,
the " keydee," or " geydee " (that is, the summer), season, commenc-
ing about the vernal equinox, or a little later, they are sown with
millet ("durah seyfee"), or with indigo, or cotton, &c. Thirdly,
in the " demeereh " season, or period of the rise of the Nile, com-
mencing about, or soon after, the summer solstice, they are sown with
millet again, or with maize (" durah shamee "), &c., and thus crowned
with a third harvest. Sugar is cultivated throughout a large portion
of Upper Egypt ; and rice, in the low lands near the Mediterranean.
For the purpose of separating the grain of wheat, barley, &c., and
cutting the straw, which serves as fodder, the Egyptians 'use a machine
called "norag," in the form of a chair, which moves upon small iron
wheels, or thin circular plates, generally eleven, fixed to three thick
axle-trees ; four to the foremost, the same number to the hindmost,
and three to the intermediate axle-tree. This machine is drawn, in a
circle, by a pair of cows or bulls, over the corn. The plough, and the
other implements which they use in husbandry, are of rude and
simple kinds.
The navigation of the Nile employs a great number of the natives
of Egypt. The boatmen of the Nile are mostly strong, muscular
men. They undergo severe labour in rowing, poling, and towing;
but are very cheerful ; and often the most so when they are most
occupied; for then they frequently amuse themselves by singing.
In consequence of the continual changes which take place in the bed
of the Nile, the most experienced pilot is liable frequently to run his
vessel aground : on such an occurrence, it is often necessary for the
crew to descend into the water, to shove off the boat with their backs
and shoulders. On account of their being so liable to run aground,
the boats of the Nile are generally made to draw rather more water
at the head than at the stern ; and hence the rudder is necessarily
very wide. The better kind of boats used on the Nile, which are
very numerous, are of a simple but elegant form; mostly between
thirty and forty feetin length ; with two masts, two large triangular
2 u
330 CHAPTER XIV.
sails, and a cabin, next the stern, generally about four feet high, 1 and
occupying about a fourth, or a third, of the length of the boat. In
most of these boats, the cabin is divided into two or more apart-
ments. Sudden whirlwinds and squalls being very frequent on the
Nile, a boatman is usually employed to hold the main-sheet in his
hand, that he may be able to let it fly at a moment's notice : the
traveller should be especially careful with respect to this precaution,
however light the wind.
1 Of late, the cabins of the better kinds of boats have been made higher, to suit the requirements
of European travellers.
("331 )
CHAPTER XV.
USE OF TOBACCO, COFFEE, HEMP, OPIUM, ETC.
THE interdiction of wine, and other fermented and intoxicating
liquors, which is one of the most important laws in the code of
El-Isldm, has caused the greater number of the disciples of this faith
to become immoderately addicted to other means of inducing slight
intoxication, or different kinds of pleasurable excitement.
The most prevalent means, in most Muslim countries, of exciting
what the Arabs term " keyf," which I cannot more nearly translate
than by the term " placid enjoyment," is tobacco. It appears that
tobacco was introduced into Turkey, Arabia, and other countries of
the East, shortly before the beginning of the seventeenth century of
the Christian era: 1 that is, not many years after it had begun to be
regularly imported into Western Europe, as an article of commerce,
from America. Its lawfulness to the Muslim has often been warmly
disputed; 2 but is now generally allowed. In the character of the
Turks and Arabs who have become addicted to its use, it has induced
considerable changes, particularly rendering them more inactive than
they were in earlier times; leading them to waste, over the pipe,
many hours which might be profitably employed: but it has had
another and a better effect ; that of superseding, in a great measure,
the use of wine, which, to say the least, is very injurious to the health
of the inhabitants of hot climates. In the tales of " The Thousand
i El-Is-hakee states that the custom of smoking of the Plight 1156-8, it frequently happened that
tobacco began to be common in Egypt between when a man was found with a pipe in his hand in
the years of the Flight 1010 and 1012 (A.D. 1601 Cairo, he was made to eat the bowl witli its burn-
and!603). ing contents. This may seem incredible; but a
El-Gabartee relates, that about a century ago, pipe-bowl way be broken by strong teeth. The
in the time of Mohammad Basha El-Yedekshee tobacco first used in the East was probably very
(or Yedekchee), who governed Egypt in the years strong.
332 CHAPTER- XV.
and One Nights," which were written before the introduction of
tobacco into the East, and which we may confidently receive as
presenting faithful pictures of the state of Arabian manners and
customs at the period when they appeared, we have abundant
evidence that wine was much more commonly and more openly
drunk by Muslims of that time, or of the age immediately preceding,
than it is by those of the present day. It may further be remarked,
in the way of apology for the pipe, as employed by the Turks and
Arabs, that the mild kinds of tobacco generally used by them have a
very gentle effect; they calm the nervous system, and, instead of
stupefying, sharpen the intellect. The pleasures of Eastern society
are certainly niuch heightened by the pipe, and it affords the peasant
a cheap and sober refreshment, and probably often restrains him from
less innocent indulgences.
The cup of coffee, which, when it can be afforded, generally
accompanies the pipe, is commonly regarded as an almost equal
luxury, and doubtless conduced with tobacco to render the use of
wine less common among the Arabs : its name, " kahweh/' an old
Arabic term for wine, strengthens this supposition. It is said that
the discovery of the refreshing beverage afforded by the berry of the
coffee-plant was made in the latter part of the seventh century of the
Flight (or, of the thirteenth of the Christian era), by a certain devotee
named the sheykh 'Omar, who, driven by persecution to a mountain
of El- Yemen, with a few of his disciples, was induced, by the want of
provisions, to make an experiment of the decoction of coffee-berries,
as an article , of food; the coffee-plant being there a spontaneous
production. It was not, however, till about two centuries after this
period that the use of coffee began to become common in El- Yemen.
It was imported into Egypt between the years 900 and 910 of the
Flight (towards the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the
sixteenth century of our era, or about a century before the introduc-
tion of tobacco into the East), and was then drunk in the great
mosque El-Azhar, by. the fakeers of El- Yemen and Mekkeh and
El-Medeeneh, who found it very refreshing to them while engaged
in their exercises of reciting prayers, and the praises of God, and
freely indulged themselves with it. About half a century after, it
was introduced into Constantinople. 1 In Arabia, in Egypt, and in
Constantinople, it was often the subject of sharp disputes among the
1 See De Sacy's ChreBtomathie Arabe, vol. i. pp. 412-483, 2nd ed,
COFFEE-SHOPS. 333
pious and learned ; many doctors asserting that it possessed intoxi-
cating qualities, and was, therefore, an unlawful beverage to Muslims ;
while others , contended that, among many other virtues, it had that
of repelling sleep, which rendered it a powerful help to the pious in
their nocturnal devotions : according to the fancy of the ruling power,
its sale was therefore often prohibited and again legalized. It is now,
and has been for many years/ acknowledged as lawful by almost all
the Muslims, and is immoderately used even by the WahMbees, who
are the most rigid in their condemnation of tobacco, and in their
adherence to the precepts of the Kur-an,, and the Traditions of the
Prophet. Formerly, it was generally prepared from the berries and
husks together ; and it is still so prepared, or from the husks alone,
by many persons in Arabia. In other countries of the East, it is
prepared from the berries alone, freshly roasted and pounded.
Cairo contains above a thousand " Kahwehs," 1 or coffee-shops.
The kahweh is, generally speaking, a small apartment, whose front,
which is towards the street, is of open wooden work, in the form
of arches. 2 Along the front, except before the door, is (or was) a
" mastabah," or raised seat, of stone or brick, two or three feet in
height, and about the same in width, which is covered with matting;
and there are similar seats in the interior, on two or three sides. The
coffee-shops are most frequented in the afternoon and evening ; but
by few except persons of the lower orders, and tradesmen. The
exterior mastabah is generally preferred. Each person brings with
him his own tobacco and pipe. Coffee is served by the " kahwfcgee "
(or attendant of the shop), at the price of five faddahs a cup, or ten
for a little * r bekreg" (or pot) of three or four 'cups. 3 The kahwegee
also keeps two or three n&rgeelehs or sheeshehs, and gozehs/ which
latter are used for smoking both the tumbak (or Persian tobacco) and
the hasheesh (or hemp) ; for liasheesh is sold at some coffee-shops.
Musicians and story-tellers frequent some of the kahwehs ; particu-
larly on the evenings of religious festivals.
The leaves and capsules of hemp, called, in Egypt, " hasheesh/'
were employed in some countries of the East in very ancient times to
induce an exhilarating intoxication. Herodotus (lib. iv. cap. 75)
i " ]ahweh," being the name of the beverage is likewise often sold at the Jahwehs, particularly
sold at ttye coffee-shop, is hence applied to the on the nights of festivals,
shop itself. * These instruments have been described in a
* See an engraving accompanying Chapter XXI. former chapter.
A decoction of ginger, sweetened with sugar,
334 CHAPTER XV.
informs us that the Scythians had a custom of burning the seeds
of this plant, in religious ceremonies, and that they became intoxi-
cated with the fumes. Galen also mentions the intoxicating properties
of hemp. The* practice of chewing the leaves of this plant to induce
intoxication prevailed, or existed, in India, in ,very early ages : thence
it was introduced into Persia ; and about six centuries ago (before the
middle of the thirteenth century of bur era) this pernicious and
degrading custom was adopted in Egypt, but chiefly by persons of
the lower orders; though several men eminent in literature and
religion, and vast numbers, of fakeers (or poor devotees), yielded to
its fascinations, and contended that it was lawful to the Muslim.
The habit is now very common among the lower orders in the
metropolis and other towns of Egypt. There are various modes of
preparing it; and various names, as "sheera," 1 "bast," &c., are
given to its different preparations. Most commonly, I am told, the
young leaves are used alone, or mixed with tobacco, for smoking ;
and the capsules, without the seeds, pounded and mixed with several
aromatic substances for an intoxicating conserve. Acids counteract
its operation. The preparation of hemp used for smoking generally
produces boisterous mirth. Few inhalations of its smoke, but the
last very copious, are usually taken from the gozeh. After the
emission of the last draught, from the mouth and nostrils, commonly
a fit of coughing, and often a spitting of blood, ensues, in consequence
of the lungs having been filled with the smoke. Hasheesh is to be
obtained not only at some of the coffee-shops : there .are shops of a
smaller and more private description solely appropriated to the sale of
this and other intoxicating preparations : they are called " mahshesh-
ehs." It is sometimes amusing to observe the ridiculous conduct,
and to listen to the conversation, of the persons who frequent these
shops. They are all of the lower orders. The term "hashshash,"
which signifies " a smoker, or an eater, of hemp," is an appellation of
obloquy : noisy and riotous people are often called " hashshasheen,"
which is the plural of that appellation, and the origin of our word
" assassin ;" a name first applied to Arab warriours in Syria, in the
time of the Crusades, who made use of intoxicating and soporific
drugs in order to render their enemies insensible. 8
1 Or "sheereh." "Assassin" and "De Sacy" in the Index would
8 See, on this subject, the close of Chapter IX. have shewn that this was not the case. I thought
A reviewer seems to have inferred from the remark the observation of the illustrious De Sacy respect-
above, that I took to myself the credit of discover- ing this word to be too generally known to require
ing this derivation. A reference to the words my mentioning it in two places^
USE OP OPIUM, ETC. 335
The use of opium and other drugs to induce intoxication is not so
common in Egypt as in many other countries of the East : the number
of Egyptians addicted to this vice is certainly not nearly so great, in
proportion to the whole population, as is the relative number of
persons in our own country who indulge in habitual drunkenness.
Opium is called, in Arabic, " afiyoon ;" and the opium-eater, " afi-
yoonee." This latter appellation is a term of less obloquy than that
of " hashshdsh," because there are many persons of the middle and
higher classes to whom it is applicable. In its crude state, opium is
generally taken, by those who have not long been addicted to its use,
in the dose of three or four grains, for the purpose above mentioned ;
but the " afiyoonee " increases the dose by degrees. The Egyptians
make several conserves composed of hellebore, hemp, and opium,
and several aromatic drugs, which are more commonly taken than
the simple opium. A conserve of this nature is called "maagoon;"
and the person who makes or sells it, ( ' maagungee." The most
common kind is called " barsh." There is one kind which, it is said,
makes the person who takes it manifest his pleasure by singing;
another which will make him chatter ; a third which excites to dance ;
a fourth which particularly affects the vision, in a pleasurable manner -,
a fifth which is simply of a sedative nature. These are sold at the
" mahshesheh."
The fermented and intoxicating liquor called "boozeh," or "boo-
zah," which is drunk by many of the boatmen of the Nile, and by
other persons of the lower orders in Egypt, has been mentioned in a
former chapter. I have seen, in tombs at Thebes, many large jars
containing the dregs of beer of this kind prepared from barley.
( 336 )
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BATH.
BATHING is one of the greatest luxuries enjoyed by the people of
Egypt. The inhabitants of the villages of this country, and those
persons who cannot afford the trifling expense incurred in the public
bath, often bathe in the Nile. Girls and young women are not un-
frequently seen thus indulging themselves in the warm weather, and
generally without any covering ; but mostly in unfrequented places.
The rich, I have before mentioned, have baths in their own houses ;
but men who have this convenience often go to the public bath ; and
so too do the ladies, who, on many occasions, are invited to accompany
thither their female friends.
There are, in Cairo, between sixty and seventy " Hamm&ms," or
baths, to which the public have access for a small expense. Some of
these are for men only ; others, only for women and young children ;
and some for both sexes ; for men during the forenoon, and in the
afternoon for females. When the bath is appropriated to women, a
napkin, or any piece of linen or drapery, is hung over the entrance,
to warn the men from entering : all the male servants having gone
out a short time before, and females having taken their places. The
front of the bath is generally ornamented in a manner similar to that
in which most of the mosques are decorated, but usually more fanciful,
in red and white, and sometimes other colours, particularly over and
about the entrance. The building consists of several apartments, all
of which are paved with marble, chiefly white, with an intermixture,
in some parts, of black marble, and small pieces of fine red tile, in
the same manner as the durkd'ah of a room in a private house, of
which a sketch has been inserted .in the introduction to this work.
The inner apartments are covered with domes, which have a number
THE BATH. 337
ot small, round, glazed apertures, for the admission of light. The
materials chiefly employed in the construction of the walls and domes
are bricks and plaster, which, after having been exposed to the steam
that is produced in tlie bath when it is in use, are liable to crack and
fall if the heat be intermitted even for a few days. A sdkiyeh (or
water-wheel), turned by a cow or bull, is constructed upon a level
with the higher parts of the building, to raise water from a well or
tank for the supply of the boiler, &c.
The bath is believed to be a favourite resort of ginn (or genii),
and therefore when a person is about to enter it, he should offer up
an ejaculatory prayer for protection against evil spirits, and should
put his left foot first over the threshold. For the same reason, he
should not pray nor recite the Kur-an in it. 1 On entering, if he have
a watch, and a purse containing more than a trifling sum of money,
he gives these in charge to the "m'allim" (or keeper of the bath),
who locks them in a chest : his pipe, and sword (if he have one), he
commits to a servant of the bath, who takes off his shoes, and supplies
him with a pair of wooden clogs ; the pavement being wet. The first
apartment is called the " meslakh." It generally has two, three, or
four "leewans," similar to mastabahs, or considerably wider, cased
with marble, and a fountain (called " faskeeyeh ") of cold water,
which rises from an octagonal basement constructed of stone cased
with marble &c. (similar to that in the inner apartment represented
in a section accompanying this description) in the centre. One of
the leewans, being designed for the accommodation of persons of the
higher and middle orders, is furnished with mattresses and cushions :
upon the other, or others, which are for the lower orders, there is
usually no furniture except mats. In many baths there is also, in
the meslakh, a small kind of stall, for coffee.
In warm weather, the bathers mostly prefer to undress in the
meslakh : in winter, they undress in an inner, closed apartment, called
the " beyt-owwal ;" between which and the first apartment is a short
passage, with two or three latrinse on one side. " Beyt-owwal " sig-
nifies " first chamber ;" and this name is given to the chamber here
mentioned because it is the first of the warm apartments j but it is
less warm than the principal apartment, of which it is the ante-
chamber. In general, it has two mastabahs, one higher than the
1 The prohibition here mentioned, although like many others, often disregarded by Iho
imposed by several well-known traditions, is, uorani.
2 x
338
CHAPTER XVI.
other, cased with marble like the pavement. The higher accommodates
but one person ; and is for the higher classes : the other is sufficiently
large for two. When the former is occupied, and another high seat
is wanted, two or three mattresses are placed one upon another on the
lower matabah, or on the leewdn (or raised part of the floor). A
segg&deh (or small prayer-carpet) is spread on the mastabah for a
person of the higher orders. The bather receives a napkin in which
to put his clothes \ and another to put round his waist : this reaches
to the knees, or a little lower ; and is termed " ma^izam :" a third, if
he require it, is brought to him to wind round his head, in the manner
of a turban, leaving the top of the head bare ; a fourth to put over his
chest, and a fifth to cover his back. It is generally a boy, or beard-
less young man, who attends the bather while he undresses, and while
he puts on his mahzam, &c. : he is called a "lawingee" (as the word
is vulgarly pronounced), which is a corruption of "leewdngee," or
" attendant of the leewdn." 1
When the bather has undressed, and attired himself in the man-
ner above described, the lawingee opens to him the door of the inner
and principal apartment, which is called " hardrah." 2 This, in gene-
Section of the Hararah.
ral, has four low leewans, like those of most rooms in private houses,
which give it the form of a cross ; and, in the centre, a " faskeeyeh "
(or fountain) of hot water, rising from a small shallow basin in the
middle of a high octagonal seat, cased with white and black marble,
1 See the Plan, of which the following is an
explanation. A, General entrance and vestibule.
B, B, Meslakh. C, C, C, C, C, Leewans. D, Sta-
tion of the M'allim, E, Fasfceeyeh. F, Coffee-
stall. O, G, Latrinaj. H, Beyt-owwal, I, I, Lee-
wan. K, K, Ma^abahB. L, L, IJararah. M, M,
M, M, Leewans. N, Fasfceeyeh. 0, 0, Two
chambers, each containing a maghtas (or tank).
P, P, JJanafeeyehs, Q, Place of the fire, over
which is the boiler,
* For "beytel-biirarah,"
O J 10 15 ?0 25
Scale of feet.
Plan of a Bath,
340 CHAPTER XVI.
and pieces of red tile. The har&rah, together with several chambers
connected with it, may generally be described as occupying almost an
exact square. The beyt-owwal is at one of the angles. Two small
chambers, which adjoin each other, and occupy a second angle of the
square, contain, the one, a "maghtas," or tank, of warm water, to
which there is an ascent of a few steps; the other, a " hanafeeyeh,"
consisting of two taps, projecting from the wall ; one of hot, and one
of cold water ; with a small trough beneath, before which is a seat :
the name of hanafeeyeh is commonly given, not merely to the taps
above mentioned, but to the chamber which contains them. A third
angle of the square is occupied by two other small chambers similar
to those just described; one containing a second maghtas, of water
not quite so warm as the former; the other, a second hanafeeyeh.
Each maghtas is filled by a stream of water pouring down from
the dome of the chamber. The fourth angle of the square is gene-
rally occupied by a chamber which has no communication with
the hararah; and which contains the fire over which is the boiler.
The central part of the hararah, its leewans, and the small chambers
connected with it, are covered with domes, which have a number of
small, glazed apertures.
The bather, having entered the hararah, soon perspires profusely,
from the humid heat which is produced by the hot water of the tanks
and fountain, and by the boiler. The operator of the bath, who is
called " mukeyyisatee," immediately comes to him. If the bather
be covered with more than one napkin, the mukeyyisatee takes them
off, and gives him a wet mahzam ; or the former mahzam is retained,
and wetted. The bather sits on the marble seat of the faskeeyeh, or
lies upon a napkin on one of the leewans, or by the edge of one of the
tanks, to submit to the first operation, which is that of cracking his
joints. 1 The operator cracks almost every joint of his frame : he
wrings the body, first one way, and then the other, to make several
of the vertebrae crack: even the neck is made to crack twice, by
wrenching the head round, each way, which produces a sensation
rather alarming to an inexperienced person ; and each ear is generally
twisted round until it cracks : the limbs are wrested with apparent
violence; but with such skill, that an untoward accident in this
operation is never heard of. The main object of this process is to
render the joints supple. The mukeyyis&tee also kneads the bather's
This is called
THE BATH.
341
flesh. After this, or previously, he rubs the soles of his feet with a
kind of rasp/ of baked clay. There are two kinds of rasps used for
this purpose : one is very porous and rough ; and its rasping surface is
scored with several lines : the other is of a fine close clay j and the sur-
face with which the rubbing is performed is rendered rough artificially :
Foot-rasps. Owe quarter of the real sine.
both are of a dark, blackish colour. Those which are used by ladies are
generally encased (the lower, or rasping, surface of course excepted)
in thin, embossed silver. The rougher rasp is of indispensable utility
to persons who do not wear stockings ; which is the case with most
of the inhabitants of Egypt : the other is for the more delicate ; and
is often used for rubbing the limbs, to render the skin smooth. The
next operation is that of rubbing the bather's flesh with a small,
coarse, woollen bag. 2 This done, the bather, if he please, dips him-
self in one of the tanks. He is next taken to a hanafeeyeh. A napkin
having been hung before the entrance to this, the mukeyyis&tee
lathers the bather with " leef " (or fibres of the palm-tree) and soap
and sweet water, which last is brought in a copper vessel, and warmed
in one of the tanks ; for the water of the hanafeeyeh is from a well,
somewhat brackish, and consequently not fit for washing with soap.
The leef is employed in the same manner as sponge is by us : it is not
of the kind produced by the palm-trees of Egypt, which is of a brown
colour: that used in the hammam is white; and is brought from the
Heja*z. The mukeyyisatee washes off the soap with water from the
hanafeeyeh ; and, if required, shaves the bather's arm-pits : he then
i Called "foagar el-hammam."
This operation is termed " tekyecs ;" and the
bag, " kees el-foamm&m :" hence the operator is
called "mukeyyisatee," or more properly, '
keyyis."
342 CHAPTER XVI.
goes, leaving him to finish washing, &c. The latter then calls for a
set of napkins/ four in number, and, having covered himself in the
same manner as before described, returns to the beyt-owwal ; but first
it is the custom of persons of the more independent classes to give
half a piaster, or a piaster, to the mukeyyistee> though it is not
demanded.
In the beyt-owwal, a mattress is spread, for the bather, on the
mastabah, covered with napkins, and having one or two cushions at
one end. On this he reclines, sipping a cup or two of coffee, and
smoking, while a laVingee rubs the soles of his feet, and kneads his
body and limbs ; or two lawingees perform these operations, and he
gives to each of them five or ten faddahs, or more. He generally
remains half an hour, or an hour, smoking his shibuk or sheesheh :
then dresses, and goes out. The "haris," who is the foreman, and
who has the charge of drying the napkins in the meslakh, and of
guarding, brings him a looking-glass, and (unless the bather have
neither beard nor mustaches) a comb. The bather asks him for his
watch, &c. ; puts from one to four piasters on the looking-glass ; and
goes. One piaster is a common sum to pay for all the operations
above described.
Many persons go to the bath twice a week : others, once a week,
or less frequently ; but some are merely washed with soap and water,
and then plunge into one of the tanks ; for which, of course, they pay
less.
The women who can afford to do so visit the hammarn frequently ;
but not so often as the men. When the bath is not hired for the
females of one family, or for one party of ladies, exclusively, women of
all conditions are admitted. In general, all the females of a house,
and the young boys, go together. They take with them their own
seggadehs, and the napkins, basins, &c., which they require, and
even the necessary quantity of sweet water for washing with soap, and
for drinking ; and some carry with them fruits, sweetmeats, and other
refreshments. A lady of wealth is also often accompanied by her own
"bellaneh," or " mash'tah/' a who is the washer and tire-woman.
Many women of the lower orders wear no covering whatever in the
bath ; not even a napkin round the waist : others always wear the
napkin, and the high clogs. There are few pleasures in which the
women of Egypt delight so much as in the visit to the bath, where they
"'Eddeh." a Thus commonly pronounced for
THE BATH. 343
frequently have entertainments ; and often, on these occasions, they
are not a little noisy in their mirth. They avail themselves of the
opportunity to display their jewels and their finest clothes, and to enter
into familiar conversation with those whom they meet there, whether
friends or strangers. Sometimes a mother chooses a bride for her son
from among the girls or women whom she chances to see in the bath.
On many occasions, as, for instance, in the case of the preparations for
a marriage, the bath is hired for a select party, consisting of the women
of two or more families ; and none else are admitted : but it is more
common for a lady and a few friends and attendants to hire a "khil-
weh :" this is the name they give to the apartment of the hanafeeyeh.
There is more confusion among a mixed company of various ranks;
but where all are friends, the younger girls indulge in more mirth and
frolic. They spend an hour or more under the hands of the bellaneh,
who rubs arid washes them, plaits their hair, applies the depilatory, 1
&c. They then retire to the beyt-owwal or meslakh, and there, hav-
ing put on part of their dress, or a large loose shirt, partake of various
refreshments, which, if they have brought none with them, they may
procure by sending an attendant of the bath to the market. Those
who smoke take their own pipes with them. On particular occasions
of festivity, they are entertained with the songs of two or more
'Al'mehs, hired to accompany them to the bath.
1 The depilatory called "noorah," which is made into a paste, with water, before application ;
often employed in the bath, being preferred to and loosens the hair in about two minutes, when
the resin more commonly used, is composed, as I it is washed off. See Russell's Aleppo, vol. i.
am informed, of quick-lime with a small propor- pp. 134, 378, 379, 2nd edition,
tion (about an eighth part) of orpiment. It is
( 344 )
CHAPTER XVII.
GAMES.
MOST of the games of the Egyptians are of kinds which suit their
sedate dispositions. They take great pleasure in chess (which they
call " satrehg"), draughts (" dameh"), and trictrac or backgammon
("tawulah")., Their chess-men are of very simple forms; as the
Miislim is forbidden, by his religion, to make an image of anything
that has life. The Muslims of Egypt in general are, however, less
scrupulous with regard to the prohibition of games of hazard : though
some of them consider even chess and draughts as forbidden, games
partly or wholly hazardous are very common among all ranks of this
people : and scarcely less so is that of cards, which, being almost
always played for money, or for some other stake, is particularly
called, by way of distinction, "leab el-kumar/' 1 "the game of hazard,
or of gain." Persons of the lower orders in the towns of Egypt are
often seen playing at these and other games at the coffee-shops ; but
frequently for no greater stake than that of a few cups of coffee.
One of the games most common among the Egyptians is that of
the "mankalah." 2 Two persons play at this, with a board (or two
boards joined by hinges) in which are twelve hemispherical holes,
called " buyoot " (plural of " beyt "), in two equal rows ; and with
seventy-two small shells, of the kind called cowries; or as many
pebbles : these, whether shells or pebbles, are termed the " hasa " (in
the singular, "hasweh"). To explain the game of the mankalah, I
must distinguish the beyts of the board by letters, thus :
[
'
Mankalah.
For "Jjtim&r." 8 Pronounced " mantyal'ah. 1
GAMES. 345
The beyts marked A, B, C, D, E, F, belong to one party; and
the opposite six beyts to the other. One of the parties, when they are
about to play the game in the most simple manner (for there are two
modes of playing it), distributes all the hasa unequally into the beyts ;
generally putting at least four into each beyt. If they were dis-
tributed equally, there would be six in each beyt ; but this is seldom
done ; for, in this ease, he who plays first is sure to lose. The act of
distributing the hasa is called " tebweez." When one party is dis-
satisfied with the other's distribution of the hasa, he may turn the
board round ; and then his adversary begins the game ; which is not
the case otherwise. Supposing the party to whom belong the beyts
A, B, C, D, E, F, commences the game, he takes the hasa from beyt
F, and distributes them to the beyts a, b, c } &c., one to each beyt ;
and if there be enough to put in each of his adversary's six beyts, and
more remain in his hand, he proceeds in the same manner to distribute
them to his own beyts, in the order A, B, C, &c. ; and then, if he have
still one or more remaining, to his adversary's beyts, as before, and so on.
If the last beyt into which he has put a hasweh contain but one (hav-
ing been empty before he put that in ; for it may have been left empty
at the first,) he ceases j and his adversary plays : but if it contain two
or four, he takes its contents, with those of the beyt opposite ; and if the
last beyt contain two or four, and one or more of the preceding beyts
also contain either of these numbers, no beyt with any other number
intervening, he takes the contents of these preceding beyts also, with
the contents of those opposite. If the last beyt into which he has
put a hasweh contain (with this hasweh) three, or five, or more, he
takes these out, and goes on distributing them in the same manner as
before : for instance, if, in this case, the last beyt into which he has
put a hasweh be D, he puts one from its contents into E, another
into F, a third into a, and so on ; and thus he continues, until making
the last beyt to contain but one stops him, or making it to contain
two *or four brings him gain, and makes it his adversary's turn to
play. He always plays from beyt F, or, if that be empty, from the
nearest beyt to it in his own row containing one or more haswehs.
When one party has more than a single hasweh in one or more of his
beyts, and the other has none, the former is obliged to put one of his
into the first of his adversary's beyts. If only one liasweh remain on
one side, and none on the other, that one is the property of the person
on whose side it is. When the board is completely cleared, each party
counts the number of the hasa he has taken ; and tne one who has
2 Y
346 CHAPTER XVII,
most reckons the excess of his above his adversary's number as his
gain. The gainer in one board begins to play the next board; his
adversary having first distributed the hasa. When either party has
made his successive gains amount to sixty, he has won the game. In
this manner, the game of the mankalah is played by young persons ;
and hence this mode of playing it is called " the game of the igno-
rant " (" leab el-ghasheem ") : others generally play in a different
manner, which is termed "the game of the wise, or intelligent"
(" leab el-'&kil "), and which must now be described.
The hasa are distributed in one or more beyts on one side, and in
the corresponding beyt or beyts on the other side ; commonly in four
beyts on eaph side, leaving the two extreme beyts of each side vacant :
or they are distributed in any other conventional manner; as, for
instance, about half into beyt A, and the remainder in beyt #. The
person who distributes the hasa does not count how many he places
in a beyt ; and it is at his option whether he places them only in one
beyt on each side, or in all the beyts. Should the other person object
to his distribution, he may turn the board round ; but in that case he
forfeits his right of playing first. The person who plays first may
begin from any one of his beyts ; judging by his eye which will bring
him the best fortune. He proceeds in the same manner as before
described ; putting one hasweh in each beyt ; and taking in the same
cases as in the former mode ; and then the other plays. After the
first gain, he counts the hasa in each of his beyts ; and plays from
that which will bring him the greatest advantage. One of the parties
may stop the other to count the hasa which he takes out of a beyt to
distribute, in order to insure his distributing them correctly. The
gain of one party after finishing one board is counted, as in the former
mode, by the excess of the number he has taken above the number
acquired by the other ; and the first who makes his successive gains
to amount to sixty wins the game. This game is of use in practising
the players in calculation. It is very commonly played at the coffee-
shops ; and the players generally agree, though it is unlawful to do
so, that the loser shall pay for the coffee drunk by himself and his
adversary and the spectators, or for a certain number of cups.
Another game very general among the lower classes in Egypt is
called " t&b." In other countries of the East this is called " tdb wa-
dukk ;" but I never hear this name given to it hi Egypt. In this
country it is played in the following manner : Four small pieces of
stick, of a flat form, about a span (or eight inches) in length, and two-
GAMES.
347
thirds of an inch in breadth, are first prepared : they are generally
formed of a piece of palm-branch ; one side of which, being cut flat
and smooth, is white ; the other, green, or, if not fresh, of a dull
yellow colour; the former side is commonly called white, and the
other, black. These are called the " t&b." Next, it is necessary to be
provided with a " seega." This is a board, divided into four rows of
squares, called "beyts " or "ddrs," each about two inches wide; or it
consists of similar rows of holes made in the ground, or in a flat stone :
the beyts are usually seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, or fifteen, in each
row. To shew the mode of playing the game, I shall here represent
a seega of nine beyts in each row ; and distinguish the beyts by letters.
i
h
9
/
e
d
c
b
a
k
I
m
n
P
1
r
s
S
R
Q
P
O
N
M
L
K
A
B
C
D
E
F
(1
H
I
In each beyt of one exterior row is usually placed a little piece of
stone, or dingy brick, about the size of a walnut ; and in each beyt of
the other exterior row, a piece of red brick or tile. Or, sometimes,
pieces are placed only in a certain number of beyts in those rows ; as,
for instance, in the first four. The pieces of one row must be distin-
guished from those in the other. They are called " kilab " (or dogs) ;
in the singular, " kelb," The game is generally played by two per-
sons. The four little sticks are thrown, all together, against a stick
thrust into the ground or held in the hand with one end resting
oh the ground, or against a wall, or against a stick inclined
against a wall. If they fall so that one only has its white side up-
wards, the player is said to have thrown, or brought, " tab " (plural
"teeb"), or a " weled" (or child, plural "wilad"), and counts one:
if there be two white, and the other two black, he counts two
("itneyn") : if there be three white, and one black, he counts three
(" telateh ") : if all four be white, four (" arba'ah ") : if all four black,
six (" sitteh "). When one throws tab, or four, or six, he throws again ;
but when he has thrown two, or three, it is then the turn of the other.
To one of the players belongs the row of beyts A, B, C, &c. : to the
other, that of a, 5, <?, &c. They first throw alternately until one has
thrown tab ; and he who has done this then throws again until he
has brought two, or three. Supposing him, at the beginning of the
348 CHAPTEE XVII.
game, to have thrown tdb and four and two, he removes the kelb
from beyt I, and places it in the seventh beyt from I, which is Q.
He must always commence with the kelb in beyt I. The other party,
in like manner, commences from beyt i. Cither party can remove a
kelb from its original place but by throwing t&b before each such
removal. The Jcelbs before removal from their original places are
called "Nasara" (or Christians, in the singular, "Nasranee") ; and
after removal, when they are privileged to commence the contest,
"Muslimeen" (or "Muslims"): when a person has made a kelb a
Muslim, it is said of him " sellem kelb ;" and of the kelb, " aslam."
Each time that a player throws tdb, he generally makes a kelb Muslim,
until he has made them all so, and thus prepared them to circulate
in the beyts. Each player may have two or more kelbs in circulation
at the same time. Let us suppose (to make the description more
simple) that the person to whom belongs the row of beyts A, B, C,
See., is circulating a single kelb : he moves it through the two middle
rows of beyts in the order of the letters by which I have distinguished
them, from K to S, and from k to 8 ; and may then either repeat the
same round or enter his adversary's row, as long as there is any kelb
remaining in that row ; but in the latter case, he does not continue to
circulate the same kelb, except in circumstances which will be men-
tioned hereafter. Whenever a throw, or any of two or more throws,
which "the player has made enables him to move his kelb into a beyt
occupied by one of his opponent's kelbs, he takes the latter. For
instance, if one party has a kelb in the beyt m, and the other has one
in 0, and another in s, and the former has thrown tab (or one), and
then four, and then two, he may take the kelb in o by the throw of
two ; then, by the throw of four, take that in 8 ; and, by the throw
of tdb, pass into a, and take a third kelb if it contain one. A player
may, by means of a suitable throw, or two or more throws, move one
of his kelbs into a beyt occupied by another of his own ; and these
two together, in like manner, he may add to a third, or he may add a
third to them : thus he may unite any number of his own kelbs, and
circulate them together, as if they were but one ; but he cannot divide
them again, and play with them separately, unless he throw t&b. If
he avail himself of a throw which he has made to bring them back
into a row through which they have already passed (either separately
or together), they become reduced to a single kelb : but he need not
avail himself of such a throw : he may wait until he throws t&b. Two
or more kelbs thus united are called an " 'eggeh." The object of So
GAMES. 349
uniting them is to place them as soon as possible in a situation of
safety ; as will be seen by what immediately follows. If either party
pass one of his kelbs into his adversary's row, he may leave it there
in safety as long as he does not want to continue to play with it,
because the latter cannot bring back a kelb into his own row. The
former, however, cannot continue to circulate the kelb which has
entered that row until he has no kelb remaining in his own row ; or
unless he have only an 'eggeh in his row, and does not throw tab,
which alone enables him to divide the 'eggeh. In circulating through
his adversary's beyts, he proceeds in the order of the letters by which
I have marked them. He cannot pass the same kelb again into his
adversary's row : after it has passed through that row, he circulates it
through the two middle rows only, in the same manner as at first.
This game is often played by four or inore persons ; and without the
seega. When one person throws four, he is called the Sultan. He
holds a makra'ah, 1 which is a piece of the thick end of a palm-stick,
with two or three splits made in the thicker part of it. When a player
throws six, he is called the Wezeer, and holds the stick against which
the tab are thrown. Whenever a person throws two, the Sultan gives
him a blow, or two or more blows (as many as the Wezeer may order),
on the sole of his foot, or the soles of both feet, with the makra'ah.
When a player throws twice six, he is both Sultan and Wezeer.
Many of the fellaheen of Egypt also frequently amuse themselves
with a game called that of the " seega," which may be described in a
few words. The seega employed in this game is different from that
of the tab : it consists of a number of holes, generally made in the
ground ; most commonly, of five rows of five holes in each, or seven
rows of seven in each, or nine rows of nine in each : the first kind is
called the "khamswee seega;" the second, the "seb'awee;" and
the third, the " tis'awee." A khams&wee seega is here represented.
OO0OO
DOOOO
ooaoc
OO0OO
1 Thus commonly pronounced, for " mikra''ah."
350 CHAPTER XVII.
The holes are called " 'oyoon " (or eyes, in the singular " 'eyn ").
In this seega, they are twenty-five in number. The players have
each twelve "kelbs," similar to those used in the game of the t&b. 1
One of them places two of his kelbs in the 'eyns marked a, a : the
other puts two of his in those marked I, b : they then alternately
place two kelbs in any of the 'eyns that they may choose, except the
central 'eyn of the seega. All the 'eyns but the central one being
thus occupied (most of the kelbs placed at random), the game is
commenced. The party who begins moves one of his kelbs from a
contiguous 'eyn into the central. The other party, if the 'eyn now
made vacant be not next to any one of those occupied by his kelbs,
desires his adversary to give him, or open to him, a way ; and the
latter must do so, by removing, and thus losing, one of his own kelbs.
This is also done on subsequent occasions, when required by similar
circumstances. The aim of each party, after the first disposal of the
kelbs, is to place any one of his kelbs in such a situation that there
shall be, between it and another of his, one of his adversary's kelbs.
This, by so doing, he takes ; and as long as he can immediately make
another capture by such means, he does so, without allowing his
adversary to move. These are the only rules of the game. It will
be remarked that, though most of the kelbs are placed at random,
foresight is requisite in the disposal of the remainder. Several
seegas have been cut upon the stones on the summit of the Great
Pyramid, by Arabs who have served as guides to travellers.
Gymnastic games, or such diversions as require much bodily
exertion, are very uncommon among the Egyptians, who are, how-
ever, generally remarkable for bodily strength : the boatmen, for
instance, undergo very severe labour in rowing and towing, and the
porters carry burdens of almost incredible weight. Sometimes two
peasants contend with each other, for mere amusement, or for a
trifling wager or reward, with "nebboots," which are thick staves,
five or six feet long : the object of each is to strike his adversary on
the head. The nebboot is a formidable weapon, and is often seen in
the hand of an Egyptian peasant : he usually carries it when on a
journey; particularly when he travels by night; which, however, is
seldom the case. Wrestling-matches are also sometimes witnessed in
Egypt : the combatants (who are called " mus&re'een," in the singular
i The larger seegas, In like manner, require a sufficient number of kelbs to occupy all the 'eyns
except one.
GAMES. 351
" musdre',") strip themselves of all their clothing except their drawers,
and generally oil their bodies ; but their exercises are not remark-
able, and are seldom performed but for remuneration, on the occasions
of festivals, processions, &c. On such occasions, too, mock combats
between two men, usually clad only in their drawers, and each armed
with a sabre and a small shield, are not unfrequently witnessed:
neither attempts to wound his adversary : every blow is received on
the shield.
The game of the "gereed," as played by the Memlooks and
Turkish soldiers, has often been described ; but the manner in which
it is practised by many of the peasants of Upper Egypt is much more
worthy of description. It is often played by the latter on the oc-
casion of the marriage of a person of influence, such as the Sheykh of
a tribe or village ; or on that of a circumcision ; or when a votive
calf or ox or bull, which has been let loose to pasture where it will,
by common 'consent, is about to be sacrificed at the tomb of a saint,
and a public feast made with its meat. The combatants usually
consist of two parties, of different villages, or of different tribes or
branches of a tribe ; each party being about twelve or twenty or
more in number ; and each person mounted on a horse or mare. The
two parties station themselves about five hundred feet or more apart.
A person from one party gallops towards the other party, and
challenges them : one of the latter, taking, in his left band, four,
five, six, or more gereed s, each six feet, or an inch or two more or less,
in length, but generally equal in length to the height of a tall man,
and very heavy (being the lower part of the palm-stick, freshly cut,
and full of sap) pursues the challenger at full gallop : he approaches
him as near as possible ; often within arm's length ; and throws, at
his head or back, one gereed after another, until he has none left.
The gereed is blunt at both ends. It is thrown with the small end
foremost ; and with uplifted arm j and sometimes inflicts terrible, and
even fatal, wounds. 1 The person against whom the gereeds are
thrown endeavours to catch them, or to ward them off with his arm or
with a sheathed sword ; or he escapes them by the superior speed of
his horse. Having sustained the attack, and arrived at the station of
his party, he tries his skill against the person by whom he has been
1 During my last residence at Thebes, a fine delirious for many hours in consequence of it, and
athletic man, the best gereed-player of the place, had nearly lost his life. The gereed struck him a
whom I had taken into my service as a nightly little before his ear, and penetrated downwards
guard, received a very severe wound at this game ; into his neck,
and I had some difficulty to effect a cure : he was
352 CHAPTER XVII.
pursued, in the same manner as the latter did against him. This
sport, which reminds us of the tournaments of old, and which was a
game of the early Bedawees, continues for several hours. It is
common only among those tribes who have not been many years, or
not more than a few centuries, settled on the banks of the Nile ; and
who have consequently retained many Bedawee customs and habits.
About the close of the period of my former visit to this country, three
men and a mare were killed at this game within an hour, in the
western plain of Thebes. It is seldom, however, that a man loses his
life in this exercise : at least, of late, I have heard of no such oc-
currence taking place. In Lower Egypt, a gereed only half the
length of those above described, or little more, is used in playing this
game.
Other exercises, which are less frequently performed, and only at
festivals for the amusement of the spectators, will be described in
subsequent pages.
( 353 )
CHAPTER XVIII.
MUSIC.
THE Egyptians in general are excessively fond of tmisic ; and yet
they regard the study of this fascinating art (like dancing) as
unworthy to employ any portion of the time of a man of sense ; and
as exercising too powerful an effect upon the passions, and leading a
man into gaiety and dissipation and vice. Hence it was condemned
by the Prophet : but it is used, notwithstanding, even in religious
ceremonies ; especially by the darweeshes. The Egyptians have very
few books on music ; and these are not understood by their modern
musicians. The natural liking of the Egyptians for music is shewn
by their habit of regulating their motions, and relieving the dulness
of their occupations, in various labours, by songs or chants. Thus
do the boatmen, in rowing, &c. ; the peasants in raising water ; the
porters in carrying heavy weights with poles ; men, boys, and girls,
in assisting builders, by bringing bricks, stones, and mortar, and
removing rubbish : so also, the sawyers, reapers, and many other
labourers. Though the music of the Egyptians is of a style very
difficult for foreigners to acquire or imitate, the children very easily
and early attain it. The practice of chanting the Kur-an, which is
taught in all their schools, contributes to increase their natural fond-
ness for music.
How science was cherished by the Arabs when all the nations of
Europe were involved in the grossest ignorance, and how much the
former profited by the works of ancient Greek writers, is well known.
It appears that they formed the system of music which has prevailed
among them for many centuries partly from Greek, and partly from
Persian and Indian, treatises. From the Greek language are derived
the most general Arabic term for music, namely, "mooseeka," and
the names of some of the Arab musical instruments ; but most of the
technical terms used by the Arab musicians are borrowed from the
2 z
354 CHAPTER XVIII.
Persian and Indian languages. There is a striking degree of simi-
larity between many of the airs which I have heard in Egypt and
some of the popular melodies of Spain ; l and it is not surprising that
this is the case : for music was much cultivated among the Arabs of
Spain ; and the library of the Escurial contains many Arabic treatises
on this art.
The most remarkable peculiarity in the Arab system of music is
the division of tones into thirds. Hence I have heard Egyptian
musicians urge against the European systems of music that they are
deficient in the number of sounds. These small and delicate grada-
tions of sound give a peculiar softness to the performances of the
Arab , musicians, which are generally of a plaintive character : but
they are difficult to discriminate with exactness, and are therefore
seldom observed in the vocal and instrumental music of those persons
who have not made a regular study of the art. Most of the popular
airs of the Egyptians, though of a similar character, in most respects,
to the music of their professional performers, are very simple;
consisting of only a few notes, which serve for every one or two lines
of a song, and which are therefore repeated many times. I must
confess that I generally take great delight in the more refined kind of
music which I occasionally hear in Egypt ; and the more I become
habituated to the style, the more I am pleased with it ; though, at
the same time, I must state that I have not met with many Europeans
who enjoy it in the same degree as myself. The natives of Egypt
are generally enraptured with the performances of their vocal and
instrumental musicians : they applaud with frequent exclamations of
" Allah I" * and " God approve thee \" " God preserve thy voice !"
and similar expressions.
The male professional musicians are called " Alateeyeh ;" in the
singular, " Al&tee," which properly signifies "a player upon an
instrument;" but they are generally both instrumental and vocal
performers. They -are people of very dissolute habits; and are
regarded as scarcely less disreputable characters than the public
dancers. They are, however, hired at most grand entertainments,
to amuse the company; and on these occasions they are usually
supplied with brandy, or other spirituous liquors, which they some-
times drink until they can no longer sing, nor strike a chord. The
1 This is most remarkable in the more refined 3 Often, in such cases, pronounced in an un-
Egyptian music; but it is also observable in the usually broad manner, and the last syllable drawled
aiw of some common ballads and chants. out, thus" Allanh !"
MUSICIANS. 355
sum commonly paid to each of them for one night's performance is
equal to about two or three shillings ; but they often receive con-
siderably more. The guests generally contribute the sum.
There are also female professional singers. These are called
"'Awalirn;" in the singular, "'Al'meh," or "'Alimeh;" an appella-
tion, as an Arabic word, literally signifying "a learned female;" but,
as applied to these female singers, evidently, I think, derived from
the Hebrew or Phoenician word "'almah," signifying "a girl" and
" a virgin," and particularly " a singing girl." " 'Al-'alamoth sheer"
(the title of Psalm xlvi.) and " neb&lim 'al-'alamoth " (in 1 Chron.
xv. 20) should, I doubt not, be rendered, " A song," and " harps "
or the like, "adapted to 'alraahs," that is, "singing girls." And as
Jerome says that " alma " in the Punic language signified " a virgin,"
it seems to be probable that, in old times, the most celebrated of the
singing-girls in Egypt were Phoenicians. The 'Awalim are often
hired on the occasion of a fete in the hareem of a person of wealth.
There is generally a small, elevated apartment, called a " tukeyseh,"
or " mughanna," adjoining the principal saloon of the hareem, from
which it is separated only by a screen of wooden lattice-work; or
there is some other convenient place in which the female singers may
be concealed from the sight of the master of the house, should he be
present with his women. But when there is a party of male guests,
they generally sit in the court, or in a lower apartment, to hear the
songs of the 'Awalim, who, in this case, usually sit at a window of
the hareem, concealed by the lattice-work. Some of them are also
instrumental performers. I have heard the most celebrated 'Awalim
in Cairo, and have been more charmed with their songs than with the
best performances of the Alateeyeh, and more so, I think I may truly
add, than with any other music that I have ever enjoyed. They are
often very highly paid. I have known instances of sums equal to
more than fifty guineas being collected for a single 'Al'men from the
guests at an entertainment in the house of a merchant, where none of
the contributors were persons of much wealth. So powerful is the
effect of the singing of a very accomplished 'Al'men, that her audience,
in the height of their excitement, often lavish upon her sums which
they can ill afford to lose. There are, among the 'Awdlim in Cairo,
a few who are not altogether unworthy of the appellation of " learned
females ;" having some literary accomplishments. There are also
many of an inferior class, who sometimes dance in the hareem : hence,
travellers have often misapplied the name of "alme," meaning
356 CHAPTER XVIIL
" 'aPmeh," to the common dancing-girls, of whom an account will be
given in another chapter of this work ; or they may have done so
because these girls themselves occasionally assume this appellation,
and generally do so when (as has been often the case) the exercise of
their art is prohibited by the government.
The Egyptians have a great variety of musical instruments. Those
which are generally used at private concerts are the " kemengeh,"
"kanoon," "'ood/' and "nay."
The "kemengeh J>1 is a kind of viol. Its name, which is Persian,
and more properly written " kemdngeh," signifies " a bow-instrument."
This instrument, and all the others of which I insert engravings, 1
have drawn with the camera-lucida. The total length of the kemengeh
which is here represented is thirty-eight inches. The sounding-body 2
is a cocoa-nut, of which about a fourth part has been cut off. It is
pierced with many small holes. Over the front of it is strained a
piece of the skin of a fish of the genus " silurus," called " bayad ;"
and upon this rests the bridge. 8 The neck 4 is of ebony inlaid with
ivory ; and of a cylindrical form. At the bottom of it is a piece of
ivory ; and the head, 5 in which the pegs are inserted, is also of ivory.
The pegs 6 are of beech ; and their heads, of ivory. The foot 7 is of
iron : it passes through the sounding-body, and is inserted into the
neck, to the depth of four or five inches. Each of the two chords
consists of about sixty horse-hairs : at the lower end, they are at-
tached to an iron ring, just below the sounding-body : towards the
other extremity, each is lengthened with a piece of lamb's gut, 8 by
which it is attached to its peg. Over the chords, a little below their
junction with the gut-strings, a double band of leather is tied, passing
round the neck of the instrument. The bow 10 is thirty-four inches
and a half in length. Its form is shewn by the engraving. The
stick is generally of ash. The horse-hairs, passed through a hole at
the head of the'bow-stick and secured by a knot, and attached at the
other end to an iron ring, are tightened or slackened by a band of
leather which passes through the ring just, mentioned and through
another ring at the foot of the bow. I insert a sketch of a performer
* A. Mend (a native of Egypt) has observed to 3 ' Ghazal."
me, since the first edition of this work was printed, * ' Sa'ed," or " arm."
that "rabab" would be a more proper term for 5 'Khazneh."
this instrument, being the general Arabic name 6 'Melaweej" singular, "melwa."
for a viol; but I never heard it called in Egypt ? 'Seekh."
by any other name than ." kemengeh." It is also 8 ' Weter."
thus called in Syria. 'Kibat."
Called " hokkah." 10 #6s."
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
357
on the kemengeh, to shew the manner in which he holds the instru-
ment and the bow. In passing the bow from one chord to the other,
he turns the kemengeh about sixty degrees round. The sketch
introduced, and those of the performers on the kanoon, 'ood, and
Kemcnppeh.
nay, are from drawings which I have made with the catnera-lucida,
and, except the last, from very expert musicians. Together, they
represent an ordinary Egyptian band, such as is generally seen at a
358 CHAPTER XV1IJ.
A Performer on the Kemengeh.
private entertainment. The performer on the kemengeh usually sits
on the right hand of him who performs on the kdnoon, or opposite
(that is, facing,) the latter, on the left hand of whom sits the
performer on the 'ood ; and next to this last is the performer on the
nay. Sometimes there are other musicians, whose instruments will
be mentioned hereafter; and often, two singers.
The " kanoon " is a kind of dulcimer. Its name is from the
Greek xavo/v, or from the same origin ; and has the same significa-
tion ; that is, "rule," " law," " custom." The instrument from
which the engraving here given was taken is, perhaps, an inch or
two longer than some others which I have seen. Its greatest length
is thirty-nine inches and three-quarters; and its breadth, sixteen
inches : its depth Is two inches and one-tenth. The kanoon is
sometimes made entirely of walnut-wood, 1 with the exception of some
ornamental parts. In the instrument which I have drawn, the face 2
and the back 3 are of a fine kind of deal : the sides 4 are of beech. The
piece in which the pegs are inserted 5 is of beech ; and so is the ridge 6
1 "G6z." 4 "goor," or "wall."
2 "Wishsh," for "weg-h." " Mis^arah."
* " pahr." fi " Enf," or " nose."
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
359
along its interior edge, through which the chords are passed. The
pegs 1 are of poplar-wood. The bridge 2 is of fine deal. In the central
FCdnoon.
No. 1 is the key; 2, the ring, or thimble; 3, the plectrum.
part of the face of the instrument is a circular piece of wood 3 of a
reddish colour, pierced with holes ; and towards the acute angle of
" Melawee "
2 " Faras," or "marc."
3 "Shemseh, ' or "a sun. 1 '
SfiO CHAPTER XVIII.
A Performer on the Kanoon.
the face is another piece of similar wood, likewise pierced with holes.
In that part of the face upon which the bridge rests are five oblong
apertures, corresponding with the five feet of the bridge. A piece of
fishes' skin 1 , nine inches wide, is glued over this part; and the five
feet of the bridge rest upon those parts of the skin which cover the
five apertures above mentioned ; slightly depressing the skin. The
chords 2 are of lamb's gut. There are three chords to each note ; and,
altogether, twenty-four treble-chords. The shortest side 3 of the
instrument is veneered with walnut-wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
The instrument is played with two plectra 4 - y one plectrum attached
to the forefinger of each hand. Each plectrum is a small, thin piece
of buffalo's horn ; and is placed between the finger and a ring, or
thimble/ formed of a flat piece of brass or silver, in the manner
represented in the sketch. The instrument is placed on the knees of
the performer ; as shewn by the engraving here inserted. Under the
hands of a skilful player, the kanoon pleases me more than any other
Egyptian instrument without an accompaniment ; and to a band it is
an important accession.
1 " Rakmeh." 4 Each plectrum is called "reesheh."'
2 "Owtar," in the singular, "weter." 5 " Kishtiwan."
3 "Kibleh."
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
361
The " 'ood " is a lute, which is played with a plectrum. This
has been for many centuries the instrument most commonly used by
the best Arab musicians, and is celebrated by numerous poets. Its
name (the original signification of which is " wood"), with the article
'Ood.
el prefixed to it, is the source whence are derived the terms liuto in
Italian, luth in French, lute in English, &c. The length of the 'ood
represented by the accompanying engraving, measuring from the
button, or angle of the neck, is twenty-five inches and a half. The
body of it is composed of fine deal, with edges &c. of ebony : the
neck, of ebony, faced with box and an ebony edge. On the face of the
body of the instrument, in which are one large and two small shem-
sehs l of ebony, is glued a piece of fishes' skin, 2 under that part of the
See a note to the description of the k&noon.
2 "Rakmeh."
3 A
362
CHAPTER XVIll.
A Performer on the 'God.
chords to which the plectrum is applied, to prevent the wood from
being worn away by the plectrum. The instrument has seven double
strings ; l two to each note. They are of lamb's gut. The order of
these double chords is singular : the double chord of the lowest
note is that which corresponds to the chord of the highest note in
our violins, &c. : next in the scale above this is the fifth (that is,
counting the former as the first) : then the seventh, second, fourth,
sixth, and third. The plectrum 2 is a slip of a vulture's feather.
The manner in which it and the 'ood itself are held by the performer
is shewn by the accompanying sketch.
N&y.
The "nay," which is the fourth and last of the instruments
which I have mentioned as most commonly used at private concerts,
is a kind of flute. There are several kinds of nay, differing from
each other in dimensions, but in little else. The most common is
that here represented. It has been called the darweesh's flute;
because often used at the " zikrs " of darweeshes, to accompany the
songs of the "munshids." It is a simple reed, about eighteen inches in
1 "Owtdr."
" Reeshejh "
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
363
A i'eri'ormer on the Nay.
length, seven -eighths of an inch in diameter at the upper extremity,
and three quarters of an inch at the lower. It is pierced with six
holes in front, and generally with another hole at the back. The
sketch which I insert of a performer on the nay shews the most usual
manner in which this instrument is held : but sometimes the left hand
is uppermost, and the instrument inclined towards the right arm of
the performer, instead of the left. The sounds are produced by blow-
ing, through a very small aperture of the lips, against the edge of the
orifice of the tube, and directing the wind chiefly within the tube.
By blowing with more or less force, sounds are produced an octave
higher or lower. In the hands of a good performer, the nay yields
tine, mellow tones; but it requires much practice to sound it well.
A nay is sometimes made of a portion of a gun-barrel.
Another instrument often used at private concerts is a small tam-
bourine, called " rikk," similar to one of which an engraving will be
found in this chapter, page 366, but rather smaller.
A kind of mandoline, called " tamboor," is also used at 'concerts
in Egypt ; but mostly by Greeks and other foreigners. These
musicians likewise use a dulcimer, called " santeer," which resembles
the kanoon, except that it has two sides oblique, instead of one (the
two opposite sides equally inclining together), has double chords of
wire, instead of treble chords of lamb's gut, and is beaten with two
sticks instead of the little plectra.
364
CHAPTER XVIII.
A curious kind of viol, called "rabab," is much used by poor
singers, as an accompaniment to the voice. There are two kinds of
viol which bear this name ; the " rabab el-mughannee " (or singers'
viol), and the " rabab esh-sha'er " (or poet's viol) ; which differ from
each other only in this, that the former has two chords, and the latter
Rabab esh-Sha'er.
but one. The latter is that of which I give an engraving ; but it
will be observed that it is convertible into the former kind, having
two pegs. It is thirty-two inches in length. The body of it is a
frame of wood, of which the front is covered with parchment, and the
back uncovered. The foot is of iron : the chord, of horse-hairs, like
those of the kemengeh. The bow, which is twenty-eight inches long,
is similar to that of the kemengeh. This instrument is always used
by the public reciters of the romance of Aboo-Zcyd, in chanting the
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 365
poetry. The reciter of this romance is called a " sha'er " (or poet) ;
and hence the instrument is called " the poet's viol/' and " the
Aboo-Zeydee viol." The sha'er himself uses this instrument; and
another performer on the same kind of rabab generally accompanies
him.
The instruments used in wedding-processions, and the processions
of darweeshes, &c., are chiefly a hautboy, called " zemr," and several
kinds of drums, of which the most common kinds are the "tabl
beledee " (or country drum, that is, Egyptian drum), and the " tabl
Shdmee " (or Syrian drum). The former is of a similar kind to our
common military drum ; but not so deep. It is hung obliquely.
The latter is a kind of kettle-drum, 6f tinned copper, with a parch-
ment face. It is generally about sixteen inches in diameter, and not
more than four in depth in the centre ; and is beaten with two slender
sticks. The performer suspends it to his neck, by a string attached
'to two rings fixed to the edge of the instrument. I have represented
these drums in the sketch of a bridal-procession, and in another
engraving in page 58.
A pair of large kettle-drums, called " nakakeer," (in the singular,
" nakkfirah,") are generally seen in most of the great religious proces-
sions connected with the pilgrimage, &c., in Cairo. They are both of
copper, and similar in form ; each about two- thirds of a sphere ; but
are of unequal dimensions : the flat surface (or face) of the larger is
about two feet, or more, in diameter ; and that of the latter, nearly a
foot and a half. They are placed upon a camel, attached to the fore
part of the saddle, upon which the person who beats them rides. The
larger is placed on the right.
Darweeshes, in religious processions, Sec., and in begging, often
make use of a little tabl, or kettle-drum, called " baz ;" six or seven
inches in diameter ; which is held in the left hand, by a little projec-
tion in the centre of the back ; and beaten by the right hand, with a
short leathern strap, or a stick. They also use cymbals, which
are called "k&s," on similar occasions. The baz is used by the
Musahhir, to attract attention to his cry in the nights of Ramad&n.
Castanets of brass, called " sdgat," are used by the public female and
male dancers. Each dancer has two pairs of these instruments.
They are attached, each by a loop of string, to the thumb and second
finger ; and have a more pleasing sound than castanets of wood or
ivory.
There are two instruments which are generally found in the hareem
360
CHAPTER XVIII.
Tar.
3 Danttmkkeh.
of a person of moderate wealth, and which the women often use for
their diversion. One of these is a tambourine, called " tar," of which
I insert an engraving. It is eleven inches in diameter. The. hoop is
overlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, and white bone, or ivory,
both without and within ; and has ten double circular plates of brass
attached to it ; each two pairs having a wire passing through their
centres. The tar is held by the left or right hand, and beaten with
the fingers of that hand, and by the other hand. The fingers of the
hand which holds the instrument, striking only near the hoop, pro-
duce higher sounds than the other hand, which strikes in the centre.
A tambourine of a larger and more simple kind than that here
described, without the metal plates, is often used by the lower orders.
The other instrument alluded to in the commencement of this para-
graph is a kind of drum, called " darabukkeh." The best kind is made
of wood, covered with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, &c. One
of this description is here represented with the tar. It is fifteen inches
in length ; covered with a piece of fishes' skin at the larger extremity,
and open at the smaller. It is placed under the left arm ; generally
suspended by a string that passes over the left shoulder; and is beaten
with both hands. Like the t&r, it yields different sounds when beaten
near the edge and in the middle. A more common kind of darabukkeh
is made of earth, and differs a little in form from that just described.
An engraving of it is here given.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
367
- -A
1 and 2. Earthen Dardbukkch.
. Mouthpiece of the latter
3 and 4. Zummarah
6 Arghool.
The Zummarah is 14 inches long; the Arghool 3 feet 2* inches.
The boatmen of the Nile very often use an earthen darabukkeh
but of a larger size than that used in hareems : generally from a foot
and a half to two feet in length. This is also used by some low story-
tellers and others. The boatmen employ, as an accompaniment to
their earthen drum, a double reed pipe, called " zummarah." 1 There
is also another kind of double reed pipe, called " arghool ;" of which
one of the reeds is much longer than the other, and serves as a drone,
1 The mouthpiece (A B) of the zummarah is moveable.
368 CHAPTER XVIII.
or continuous bass. 1 This, likewise, is used by boatmen ; and
sometimes it is employed, instead of the nay, at zikrs. Both of these
reed pipes produce harsh sounds ; and those of the latter much re-
semble the sounds of the bag-pipe. A rude kind of bag-pipe ("zum-
m&rah bi-soan ") is sometimes, but rarely, seen in Egypt : its bag is
a small goat's skin.
I shall now close this chapter with a few specimens of Egyptian
music ; chiefly popular songs. These I note in accordance with the
manner in which they are commonly sung ; without any of the em-
bellishments which are added to them by the Alateeyeh. The airs of
these are not always sung to the same words; but the words are
generally similar in style to those which I insert, or at least as silly \
though often abounding with indecent metaphors, or with plain
ribaldry. It should be added, that distinct enunciation, and a
quavering voice, are characteristics of the Egyptian mode of singing.
SONGS.
No. 1.
Doos yd lei - lee. Doos yd le - 1 - lee. Doos yd lei - lee. Doos yd
le - - 1 - lee. 'Eshk6 mah - bbo - bee fe - te - n - nee.
" Doos 2 ya lellee. Doos yd lellee. (This line is sung three times.)
'Eshke 3 mahboobee fetennee."
Tread ! 4 O my joy ! 5 Tread ! O my joy ! (three times.)
Ardent desire of my beloved hath involved me in trouble.
(The preceding lines are repeated after each of the following
stanzas, sometimes as a chorus.)
1 The arghool has three :noveable pieces to are generally pronounced in Cairo, except in the
lengthen the longer tube (A B, B C, and CD); case of one letter, which I represent by " k," to
and is sometimes used with only one or two of express the sound which persons of education
these; and sometimes with none of them. Its give to it instead of the more usual hiatus,
mouthpiece is moveable, like that of the zum- 3 The Arabs find it impossible to utter three
mdrah. consonants together without a pause between
3 Here, in accordance with a rule observed in the second and third : hence the introduction of
most modern Arab songs, the masculine gender the short vowel which terminates this word :
is applied to the beloved object, who is, neverthe- sh represents a single letter,
less, a female, as will be seen in several subse- 4 Or pace, or strut.
quent verses. In translation, I therefore substi- 5 " Ya lellee," which is thus translated, is a
tute the feminine gender in every case where our common ejaculation indicative of joy, said to be
language distinguishes gender. Some words synonymous with " ya farhatee." It is difficult to
occur, bearing double meanings, which I leave render this and other cant terms,
unexplained. I write the Arabic words as they
MUSIC. 369
" Ma l knllu men nainet 'oyoonuh
Yahsib el-'ashik yenani. 2
Wa-llah ana. mughram sababeh.
Lem 'ala-l-'dshik melam."
Let not every one whose eyes sleep
Imagine that the lover sleepeth.
By Allah ! I am inflamed with intense love.
The lover is not obnoxious to blame.
Yd Sheykh el-'Arab : Ya Seyyid :
Tegmaanee Vl-khilli 3 leyleh.
Wa-ii 4 ganee habeebe kalbee
La-amal lu-1- 5 Kashmeer dulleyleh."
C) Sheykh of the Arabs ! O Seyyid ! 6
Unite me to the true love one night !
And if the beloved of my heart come to me
T will make the Kashmeer shawl her canopy.
" Kamil el-owsaf fetennee
Wa-l-'oyoon es-sood rainoonee.
Min hawahum sirt aghannee 7
Wa-1-hawa zowwad gunoonee."
The perfect in attributes hath involved me in trouble,
And the black eyes have overthrown me.
From love of them I began to sing,
And the air 8 increased my madness.
" Gema'om 9 gem* al-'awazil
'An habeebee yemna'oonee.
Wa-llah ana md afoot hawahum
Bi-s-suyoof low katta'oonee."
They leagued together the crew of reproachers
To debar me from my beloved.
By Allah ! I will not relinquish the love of them, 10
Though they should cut me in pieces with swords.
" Kum bi-n& ya khille neskar
Talita $ill el-yasameeneh :
Nektuf el-khdkh min 'ala. ummuh
Wa-l-'awazil ghafileene."
1 This line and the first of the next stanza re- * For " wa-in."
quire an additional note, which is the same as the 5 Por "la-aamal lahu-1;" or rather, "la-'amiltu
last note of these lines, to be added at the com- lahu-1."
mencement. 6 The famous saint Es-Seyyid Ahmad El-
This and some other lines require that the Bedawee, who is buried at Tanta, in the Delta,
note which should be the last if they were of more 7 For " ughannee."
correct measure be transferred to the commence- 8 That is, the air of the song,
ment of the next line. 9 Por " gema'oo."
3 For " 'ala-1-khilli." 10 Namely, the black eyes.
3 B
370
CHAPIE& XVIII.
Up with us ! O true love ! Let us intoxicate ourselves l
Under the shade of the jasmine:
We will pluck the peach from its mother [tree]
While the reproachers are unconscious,
" Ya benat goowa-1-medeeneh
'Aridakum ashya temeeneh :
Telbisu-sh-shateh bi-loolee
Wa-1-kiladeh *a-n-nehdi 2 zeeneh."
(> ye damsels in the city ! 3
Ye have things of value :
Ye wear the shateh 4 with pearls,
And the kilddeh, 5 an oniament over the bosom.
" Ya benat Iskendereeyeh
Meshyukum 'a-1-farshi 6 gheeyeh :
Telbisu-1-Kashmeer bi-telee
Wa-sh-shefalf sukkareeyeh."
O ye damsels of Alexandria !
Your walk over the furniture 7 is alluring :
Ye wear the Kashmeer shawl, with embroidered work, 8
And your lips are sweet as sugar.
" Ya milal? khafoo min Allah
Wa-rhamu-l-'ashik li-llaK
IJobbukum mektoob min Allah :
Kaddaru 9 -l-Mowla 'aleiya."
O ye beauties ! fear God,
And have mercy on the lover for the sake of God.
The love of you is ordained by God :
The Lord hath decreed it against me.
No. 2.
Ya - bu - 1 - ge - 1 - fee. Ya - bu - 1 - ge - 1 - fee. Hah
e - 1 - ina -
nia
'ad wi - 1 - fee.
1 The intoxication here meant is that of love,
as is generally the case when this expression is
used in Arab songs.
8 For " 'ala-n-nehdi."
3 Cairo.
* An ornament described in the Appendix, re-
sembling a necklace of pearls, &c., attached on
each side of the head-dress.
5 A kind of long necklace, reaching to the girdle.
6 For '"ala-1-farshi."
7 The furniture consists of carpets Ac., spread
upon the floor.
8 " Telee " is a corruption of the Turkish word
" tel," and is applied in Egjpt to flattened gold or
silver wire, used in embroidery.
9 For " ^addaruh " or rather, " kaddarahu."
MUSIC. 371
" Ya-bu-1-gelfee. Ya-bu-1-gelfee.
Rah el-mahboob : ma J dd wilfee."
O thou in the long-sleeved yelek ! O thou in the long-sleeved yelek !
The beloved is gone : my companion has not returned.
" Rah el-mirsal wa-lem g&she : *
Wa-'eyn el-hobb bi-terashee. 3
Ya-bu-1-galif. Ya-bu-1-gelfee.
Ya reyt'ne ma-nshebeknashe'.
Ya-bu-1-gelfee, &c."
The messenger went, and has not returned :
And the eye of love is glancing.
O thou with the side-lock ! 4 O thou in the long-sleeved yelek !
Would that we had not been ensnared !
O thou in the long-sleeved yelek ! &c.
" Wa-ley ya 'eyn shebekteeiie
Wa-bi-1-alljaz garahteene.
Ya-bu-1-galif. Ya-bu-1-gelfee.
Bi-llahi rikk wa-shfeene.
Ya-bu-1-gelfee, &c."
And why, O eye ! hast thou ensnared us ?
And with glances wounded us ?
O thou with the side-lock ! O thou in the long-sleeved yelok !
By Allah ! have compassion, and heal us.
O thou in the long-sleeved yelek ! &c.
" Askamtenee yd habeebee :
Wa-m& kasdee ilia tibbak.
' Asak ya bedrS terhamnee :
Fa-inna kalbee yehebbak.
Ya-bu-1-wardee. Ya-bu-1-wardee.
Irlabeebd kalbee khaleek 'andee."
Thou hast made me ill, O my beloved !
And my desire is for nothing but thy medicine.
Perhaps, O full moon ! thou wilt have mercy upon me :
For verily my heart loveth thee.
O thou in the rose-coloured dress ! O thou in the rose-coloured dress !
Beloved of my heart ! remain with me.
" De-1-hobbe 1 ganee yet'mayal : 5
Wa-sukr8 fyalee gufoonuh.
Meddeyt eedee 6 akhud el-kas :
Sekirt ana min 'oyoonuh.
Ya-bu-1-wardee, &c."
i Vulg. for " ilfee." commonly called
* " Lem gashe " is for " lem yogi." 5 For " yetamdyal."
a For " turashee." 6 For"yedec."
* The lock of hair which handover the temple,
372 . CHAPTER XVIII.
The beloved came to me with a vacillating gait ;
And her eyelids were the cause of my intoxication.
I extended my hand to take the cup;
And was intoxicated by her eyes.
O thou in the rose-coloured dress ! &c.
No. 3.
Ma marr wa - sa - ka - nee ha - bee - bee suk - kar.
^
^
el - la - ya - lee 'a-1 - mu - da - meh ne - s - kar.
" Ma marr wa-sa^anee habeebee sukkar.
Nusf el-layalee 'a-1-rnudameh l neskar.
Nedren 'aleiya wa-n 2 at& mahboobee
La-amal 3 'amayil 4 ma'amilhash 'Antar."
My love passed not, but gave me sherbet of sugar to drink.
For half the nights we will intoxicate ourselves with wine.
I vow that, if my beloved come,
I will do deeds that 'Antar did not.
" Yd binte melesik d&b wa-bent * eedeykee 6
Wa-khaf 7 'aleykee min sawad 'eyneykee.
Ka^dee ana askar wa-boos 8 khaddeykee
Wa-amal 9 'amayil ma 'amilhash 'Antar."
damsel! thy silk shirt is worn out, and thine arms have become visible,
And I fear for thee, on account of the blackness of thine eyes.
1 desire to intoxicate myself, and kiss thy cheeks,
And do deeds that 'Antar did not.
" Faiteh 'aleiya maliya-1-argeeleh :
Wa-meiyet 10 el-ma- warde" fi-1-argeeleh.
Ata-bi-1-buneiyeh 'amilahk heeleh.
Met4 tekul-lee ta'al ya geda neskar."
She is passing by me, and filling the argeeleb ; u
And there is rose-water in the argeeleh.
It seems to me the little lass is framing to herself some artifice.
When will she say to me, " O youth ! come, and let us intoxicate ourselves ?"
i For " 'ala-1-mudameh." 7 For " wa-akhaf."
* For^'wa-iB." 8 For "wa-aboos."
For "la-a^mal." 9 For wa-afcmal."
* For " 'amail." 10 A vulgar diminutive of " ma," water.
5 "Bent" is a vulgar contraction of "banet." "More commonly called "nargeeleh:" the
6 Dual of "eed," vulg. for "yfidj" meaning Persian pipe.
" arm " as well as " hahd."
MUSIC.
" fool el-layalee lem yenkata' l noohee 2
'Ala ghazal mufrad wa-khad 8 rooliee.
Nedren 'aleiya wa-n ata inahboobee
La-amal 'amayil ma 'amilhdsh *Antar."
Every night long my moaning ceaseth not
For a solitary gazelle that hath taken away my soul.
I vow that, if iny beloved come,
I will do deeds that 'Antar did not.
" Yd dema 'eynee 'a-1-khudeyd 4 men hallak :
Kal-lee bi-zeedak 5 sh<5k 'ala bo'adi 6 khillak.
Irham muteiyam yd gemeel mashghul-bak.
Taama 'oyoon ellee 7 ma yehebbak ya-smar." 8
tear of my eye ! who drew thee forth over the cheek ?
It saith, " Thy desire increaseth on account of thy true-love's absence."
Have mercy upon one enslaved, O beautiful ! and intent upon thee :
Blinded be the eyes of him who loves thee not, O dark-complexioned !
" Asmar wa-hawi-1-wardeteyni-l-beedi.
Hobbee takhallak fee layali-l-'eedi.
Nedren 'aleiya wa-n atanee seedee
La-amal 'amayil ma 'amilhash 'Antar."
Dark-complexioned, and with two white roses ! 9
My love hath perfumed herself on the nights of the festival.
I vow that, if my mistress come to me,
I will do deeds that 'Antar did not.
373
No. 4.
A - shik ra - a mub - te -
- - h
ye - h feyn.
" 'Ashik ra-a mubtelee : kal-luh enta rayeft I0 feyn.
Wakaf !kara kissatuh : bekyum u sawa-1-itneyn.
Bal?om le-kadi-1-hawa-l-itneyn sawd yeshkum.
Bekyu-t-tel&teh wa-kaloo hobbena rah feyn.
El-leyl. El-leyl. Yd helw el-ay adee : hawi-l-kh(5kh en-nadee.
Entummin eyn wa-hria min eyn lemmd shebektoone."
For "yenkat&V
For *' n61jee."
For "wa-akhad."
For " 'ala-1-khndeyd."
For "bi-yezeedak."
For"be'adi."
7 For " ellezee."
a Yor " ya asmar."
9 The dark-complexioned girl has two white
roses on her cheeks, instead of red.
iFor"ra-eV'
11 For " bekow."
374
CHAPTER XVIII.
A lover saw another afflicted [in like manner] : he said to him, " Whither art thou
going?"
He stopped and told his story : they both wept together.
They went to the kadee of love, both together to complain.
The three wept, and said, " Whither is our love gone ?"
The night ! The night ! O thou with sweet hands ! holding l the dewy peach !
Whence were ye, and whence were we, when ye ensnared us ?
" 'Ashik yekul li-1-hamam hat lee genahak y<5m.
Kal el-liamam amrak batil : kultu gheyr el-ydm :
Hatta a^eer fi-l-go* wa-nzur weg-h el-mahboob :
Akhud widad 'am wa-rga' ya hamam fee y<5m.
EMeyl. El-leyl, &c."
A lover says to the dove, " Lend me your wings for a day."
The dove replied, "Thy affair is vain:" I said, "Some other day :
That I may soar through the sky, and see the face of the beloved :
I shall obtain love enough for a year, and will return, O dove, in a day."
The night! The night ! &c,
THE CALL TO PRAYER.
The call to prayer, repeated from the mdd'nehs (or menarets) of
the mosques, I have already mentioned. 8 I have often heard this
call, in Cairo, chanted in the following manner ; and in a style more
or less similar, it is chanted by most of the mueddins of this city.
sq-
Al - la - hu ak - bar.
Al - la - - hu ak - bar.
-* r
Ai - la - hu ak - bar.
Al - la -
P.^ , -^ ,
-<&{ '-^* "i 1
,C^'
, i , [""1
-" ^I 2P-
.np_J_
- bar.
Ash - hadu an Id i -
/^s
P^
^ 1 ^
* ^-*
-i H
' T-
g 1- 1
4- y.
1* ^ -f-
o ^ __{ 1 1 :
la - ha il-la - 1 - lah.
^^ L-4 ^ 1 *
Ash - hadu an Id i
1 Or, thou who hast.
In the chapter on religion and laws.
MUSIC.
375
la - ha il - la-1 - la
- - h.
Ash - hadu an - na Mo - ham - ma - dar ra - soolu -I -
Ash - hadu an - na Mo - ham - ma - dar ra - soolu - 1
h. IJei - ya *a - la-? - ?a - lah
ETei - ya 'a - la-s - sa -
- h. Ilei-ya 'a - la-1 - fe - lalj. tfei - y 'a - la-1 - fe -
- la
Al - Id - hu ak - har.
Al -
- la - - hu ak - bar.
L& i - U - ha i-l-la-1- lali.
THE CHANTING OF THE KUE-lN. ,
The following is inserted with the view of conveying some notion
of the mode in which the Kur-an is commonly chanted in Egypt.
The portion here selected is that which is most frequently repeated,
namely, the " FaYliah/' or first chapter.
376
CHAPTER XVIIL
Moderate.
[fti
Bi - smi-1 - Id - hi-r- rah - ma - ni-r - ra - heem. El - hamdu li-1 - Id - hi
rab - bi-1 - 'a - la - mee - na-r - rah - ma - ni-r - ra - hee - mi
md - li - ki yow - mi-d - deen. Ee - yd - ka naa - hu - doo wa -
ee - yd - ka nesta - 'een. Ihdi - na-? - 91 - rd - ta-1-rnus - ta - kee- ma i -
1
cr
it
rd - ta-1 - le zee - na an - 'am - ta 'a - lei - him ghei - ri-1-maghdoo- bi 'a
(2 ^u.
lei - him wa-la-d - da - - - lleen. A - meen.
( 377 )
CHAPTER XIX.
PUBLIC DANCERS.
EGYPT has long been celebrated for its public dancing-girls ; the
most famous of whom are of a distinct tribe, called "Ghawazee." 1
A female of this tribe is called " Ghazeeyeh ;" and a man, " Ghazee ;"
but the plural Ghaw&zee is generally understood as applying to the
females. The misapplication of the appellation " 'Jd'mehs " to the
common dancing-girls of this country has already been noticed. The
Ghawdzee perform, unveiled, in the public streets, even to amuse the
rabble. Their dancing has little of elegance; its chief peculiarity
being a very rapid vibrating motion of the hips, from side to side.
They commence with a degree of decorum ; but soon, by more
animated looks, by a more rapid collision of their castanets of brass,
and by increased energy in every motion, they exhibit a spectacle
exactly agreeing with the descriptions which Martial a and Juvenal 3
have given of the performances of the female dancers of Gades. The
dress in which they generally thus exhibit in public is similar to that
1 Since this was written, public female dancing the sum ; and he gives it : she is then his lawful
and prostitution have been prohibited by the wife. The next day, he tells her that she is di-
government, in the beginning of June, in the vorced from him. He need be under little appre-
year 1834. Women detected infringing this new hension of her demanding the expenses of her
law are to be punished with fifty stripes for the maintenance during the period of her 'eddeh, be-
first offence, and for repeated offences are to be fore the expiration of which she cannot legally
also condemned to hard labour for one or more marry another man j for the marriage which has
years : men are obnoxious to the discipline of the just been contracted and dissolved is only de-
bastinado when parties in such offences. But signed as a means of avoiding punishment in case
there is a simple plan for evading punishment in of her being detected with the man ; and other-
cases of this kind, which, it is said, will be adopted wise is kept secret j and the sum which she can
by many persons. A man may marry a venal demand for her maintenance during the above-
female, legally, and divorce her the next day. He mentioned period is very paltry hi comparison
has only to say two or three words, and pay a with that which she may obtain by taking a new
small sum of money, which he calls her dowry. husband every two or three days.
He says, "Will you marry me?" She answers, 2 Lib. v. Epigr. 79.
" Yes." " For how much ?" he asks. She names 3 Sat. xi. v. 162.
3 c
378
CHAPTER XIX.
Dancing-Girls (Ghawazee, or UliazeeyohH).
which is worn by women of the middle classes in Egypt in private ;
that is, in the hareem ; consisting of a yelek, or an 'anterce, and the
shintiyan, &c., of handsome materials. They also wear various orna-
ments : their eyes are bordered with the kohl (or black collyrium) ;
and the tips of their fingers, the palms of their hands, and their toes
and other parts of their feet, are usually stained with the red dye of
the henna, according to the general custom of the middle and higher
classes of Egyptian women. In general, they are accompanied by
musicians (mostly of the same tribe), whose instruments are the
kemengeh or the raba*b with the tar; or the darabukkeh with the
zummarah or the zemr : the tdr is usually in the hands of an old
woman.
The Ghawazee often perform in the court of a house, or in the
street, before the door, on certain occasions of festivity in the hareem ;
as, for instance, on the occasion of a marriage, or the birth of a child.
They are never admitted into a respectable hareem, but are not un-
frequently hired to entertain a party of men in the house of some
DANCING-GIRLS. 379
rake, In this case, as might be expected, their performances are yet
more lascivious than those which I have already mentioned. Some
of them, when they exhibit before a private party of men, wear nothing
but the shintiyan (or trousers) and a tob (or very full, long, wide-
sleeved shirt or gown) of semi-transparent, coloured gauze, open
nearly half-way down the front. To extinguish the least spark of
modesty which they may yet sometimes affect to retain, they are
plentifully supplied with brandy or some other intoxicating liquor.
The scenes which ensue cannot be described.
I need scarcely add that these women are the most abandoned of
the courtesans of Egypt. Many of them are extremely handsome ;
and most of them are richly dressed. Upon the whole, I think they
are the finest women in Egypt. Many of them have slightly aquiline
noses ; but in most respects they resemble the rest of the females of
this country. Women, as well as men, take delight in witnessing
their performances ; but many persons among the higher classes, and
the more religious, disapprove of them.
The Ghawazee being distinguished, in general, by a cast of coun-
tenance differing, though slightly, from the rest of the Egyptians,
we can hardly doubt that they are, as themselves assert, a distinct
race. Their origin, however, is involved in much uncertainty. They
call themselves " Baramikeh," 1 or " Barmekees " and boast that
they are descended from the famous family of that name who were
the objects of the favour, and afterwards of the capricious tyranny, of
Haroon Er-Rasheed, and of whom we read in several of the tales of
" The Thousand and One Nights :" but, as a friend of mine lately
observed to me, they probably have no more right to call themselves
" Bar&mikeh " than because they resemble that family in liberality,
though it is liberality of a different kind. In many of the tombs of
the ancient Egyptians we find representations of females dancing at
private entertainments, to the sounds of various instruments, in a
manner similar to the modern Ghawazee, but even more licentious ;
one or more of these performers being generally depicted in a state of
perfect nudity, though in the presence of men and women of high
stations. This mode of dancing we find, from the monuments here
alluded to, most of which bear the names of kings, which prove their
age, to have been common in Egypt in very remote times ; even be-
fore the Exodus of the Israelites. It is probable, therefore, that it
1 Commonly pronounced " Baram'keh."
380 CHAPTER XIX.
has continued without interruption ; and perhaps the modern Ghawa-
zee are descended from the class of female dancers who amused the
Egyptians in the times of the early Pharaohs. From the similarity
of the Spanish fandango to the dances of the Ghaw&zee, we might
infer tnat it was introduced into Spain by the Arab conquerors of
that country, were we not informed that the Gaditanse, or females of
Gades (now called Cadiz), were famous for such performances in the
times of the early Roman Emperors. However, though it hence
appears that the licentious mode of dancing here described has so
long been practised in Spain, it is not improbable that it was
originally .introduced into Gades from the East, perhaps by the
Phoenicians. 1
The Ghawdzee mostly keep themselves distinct from other classes,
abstaining from marriages with any but persons of their own tribe ;
but sometimes a Ghazeeyeh makes a vow of repentance, and marries a
respectable Arab ; who is not generally considered as disgraced by
such a connection. All of them are brought up for the venal profes-
sion; but not till as dancers; and most of them marry; though they
never do this until they have commenced their career of venality.
The husband is subject to the wife : he performs for her the offices of
a servant and procurer ; and generally, if she be a dancer, he is also
her musician : but a few of the men earn their subsistence as black-
smiths or tinkers. Most of the Ghazecyehs welcome the lowest
peasant, if he can pay even a very trifling sum. Though some of
them are possessed of considerable wealth, costly ornaments, See.,
many of their customs are similar to those of the people whom we
call "gipsies," and who are supposed, by some, to be of Egyptian
origin. It is remarkable that some of the gipsies in Egypt pretend to
be descended from a branch of the same family to whom the Ghawazee
refer their origin ; but their claim is still less to be regarded than that
of the latter, because they do not unanimously agree on this point.
I shall have occasion to speak of them more particularly in the next
chapter. The ordinary language of the Ghawazee is the same as that
of the rest of the Egyptians; but they sometimes make use of a
number of words peculiar to themselves, in order to render their
speech unintelligible to strangers. They are, professedly, of the
Muslim faith ; and often some of them accompany the Egyptian
1 From tho effect which it produced, it is pro- of Herodias was of the kind here described. See
bable that the dance performed by the daughter St. Matthew, xiv. 6, 7, or St. Mark vi. 22, 23,
DANCING-GIRLS. 381
caravan of pilgrims to Mekkeh. There are many of them in almost
every large town in Egypt, inhabiting a distinct portion of the quarter
allotted to public women in general. Their ordinary habitations are
low huts, or temporary sheds, or tents \ for they often move from one
town to another : but some of them settle themselves in large houses ;
and many possess black female slaves (by whose prostitution they in-
crease their property), and camels, asses, cows, &c., in which they
trade. They attend the camps, and all the great religious and other
festivals, of which they are, to many persons, the chief attractions.
Numerous tents of Ghazeeyehs are seen on these occasions. Some of
these women add to their other allurements the art of singing, and
equal the ordinary 'Awalim. Those of the lower class dress in the
same manner as other low prostitutes. Some of them wear a gauze
tob, over another shirt, with the shintiydn, and a crape or muslin
tarhah; and in general they deck themselves with a profusion of
ornaments, as necklaces, bracelets, anklets, a row of gold coins over
the forehead, and sometimes a nose-ring. All of them. adorn them-
selves with the kohl and henna. There are some other dancing-girls
and courtesans who call themselves Ghawazee, but who do not really
belong to that tribe. 1
Many of the people of Cairo, affecting, or persuading themselves, to
consider that there is nothing improper in the dancing of the Ghaw&zee
but the fact of its being performed by females, who ought not thus
to expose themselves, employ men to dance in the same manner ; but
the number of these male performers, who are mostly young men, and
who are called " Khawals," 2 is very small. They are Muslims, and
natives of Egypt. As they personate women, their dances are exactly
of the same description as those of the Ghawazee ; and are, in like
manner, accompanied by the sounds of castanets : but, as if to prevent
1 The courtesans of other classes have at most chose to discover themselves. Such women were
times abounded in every town of Egypt ; but ia and found in almost every quarter of the metropolis,
about the metropolis, these and the others before Many of them were divorced women, or widows ;
mentioned have generally been particularly mime- and many were the wives of men whom business
rous ; some quarters being inhabited almost exclu- obliged to be often abroad. All the known
sively by them. These women, when their pro- prostitutes in Egypt paid a kind of income-tax
fession was allowed by the government, frequently (" firdeh "). The tax paid by those of the metro-
conducted themselves with the most audacious polis lately amounted to eight hundred purses
effrontery. Their dress was such as I have de- (equivalent to four thousand pounds sterling),
scribed as being worn by the Ghawazee, or dif- which is not less than one-tenth of the firdeh of
fered from that of respectable women in being a all the inhabitants. This will convey some idea
little more gay, and less disguising. Some women of their number in comparison with that of the
of the venal class in Cairo not only wore the persons who practised honest means of obtaining
burko* (or face-veil), but dressed, in every respect, their livelihood.
like modest women ; from whom they could not * The term " Ghaigh " (plural, " Gheeyash,") is
be distinguished, except by those to whom they also applied to a person of this class.
382 CHAPTER XIX.
their being thought to be really females, their dress is suited to their
unnatural profession ; being partly male, and partly female : it chiefly
consists of a tight vest, a girdle, and a kind of petticoat. Their
general appearance, however, is more feminine than masculine : they
suffer the hair of the head to grow long, and generally braid it, in
the manner of the women ; the hair on the face, when it begins to
grow, they pluck out ; and they imitate the women also in applying
kohl and henna to their eyes and hands. In the streets, when not
engaged in dancing, they often even veil their faces ; not from shame,
but merely to affect the manners of women. They are often employed,
in preference to the Ghawdzee, to dance before a house, or in its
court, on the occasion of a marriage-fete, or the birth of a child, or a
circumcision ; and frequently perform at public festivals.
There is, in Cairo, another class of male dancers, young men and
boys, whose performances, dress, and general appearance are almost
exactly similar to those of the Khawals ; but who are distinguished
by a different appellation, which is " Gink ;" a term that is Turkish,
and has a vulgar signification which aptly expresses their character.
They are generally Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and Turks.
( 383 )
CHAPTER XX.
SERPENT-CHARMERS, AND PERFORMERS OF
LEGERDEMAIN TRICKS, &c.
MANY modern writers upon Egypt have given surprising accounts of
a class of men in this country, supposed, like the ancient " Psylli " of
Cyrenaica, to possess a secret art, to which allusion is made in the
Bible, 1 enabling them to secure themselves from the poison of serpents.
I have met with many persons among the more intelligent of the
Egyptians who condemn these modern Psylli as impostors, but none
who has been able to offer a satisfactory explanation of the most
common and most interesting of their performances, which I am
about to describe.
Many Rifa'ee and Sag,dee darweeshes obtain their livelihood, as I
have mentioned on a former occasion, by going about to charm away
serpents from houses. A few other persons also profess the same art,
but are not so famous. The former travel over every part of Egypt,
and find abundant employment ; but their gains are barely sufficient
to procure them a scanty subsistence. The charmer professes to dis-
cover, without ocular perception (but perhaps he does so by a peculiar
smell), whether there be any serpents in a house ; and if there be, to
attract them to him ; as the fowler, by the fascination of his voice,
allures the bird into his net. As the serpent seeks the darkest place
in which to hide himself, the charmer has, in most cases, to exercise
his skill in an obscure chamber, where he might easily take a serpent
from his bosom, bring it to the people without the door, and affirm
that he had found it in the apartment; for no one would venture to
enter with him after having been assured of the presence of one of
these reptiles within : but he is often required to perform in the full
light of day, surrounded by spectators ; and incredulous persons have
1 See Psalm Iviii. 4, 5j Eccles. x. 11; and Jerem, viii. 17.
384 CHAPTER XX.
searched him beforehand, and even stripped him naked; yet his
success has been complete. He assumes an air of mystery, strikes
the walls with a short palm-stick, whistles, makes a clucking noise
with his tongue, and spits upon the ground; and generally says,
" I adjure you by God, if ye be above, or if ye be below, that ye come-
forth : I adjure you by the Most Great Name, if ye be obedient, come
forth ; and if ye be disobedient, die ! die ! die !" The serpent is
generally disflodged by his stick, from a fissure in the wall, or drops
from the ceiling of the room. I have often heard it asserted that the
serpent-charmer, before he enters a house in which he is to try his
skill, always employs a servant of that house to introduce one or more
serpents ; but I have known instances in which this could not be the
case ; and am inclined to believe that the darweeshes above mentioned
are generally acquainted with some real physical means of discovering
the presence of serpents without seeing them, and of attracting them
from their lurking-places. It is, however, a fact well ascertained,
that the most expert of them do not venture to carry serpents of a
venomous nature about their persons until they have extracted the
poisonous teeth. Many of them carry scorpions, also, within the
cap, and next the shaven head ; but doubtless first deprive them of
the power to injure ; perhaps by merely blunting the sting. Their
famous feats of eating live and venomous serpents, which are regarded
as religious acts, I have before had occasion to mention, and purpose
to describe particularly in another chapter. 1
Performers of sleight-of-hand tricks, who are called "Howah"
(in the singular, " Hawee " 2 ), are numerous in Cairo. They generally
perform in public places ; -collecting a ring of spectators around them,
from some of whom they receive small voluntary contributions during
and after their performances. They are most frequently seen on the
occasions of public festivals ; but often also at other times. By in-
decent jests and actions they attract as much applause as they do by
other means. The " IJ&wee " performs a great variety of tricks ; the
most usual of which I shall here mention. He generally has two
boys to assist him. From a large leathern bag he takes out four or
five snakes, of a largish size. One of these he places on the ground,
and causes to erect its head and part of its body : another he puts
round the head of one of the boys, like a turban ; and two more he
In the account of the Moolid en-Nebee, in the first of the chapters on periodical public festivals, &o.
So called from his feats with serpents.
JUGGLERS, 385
winds over tfye boy's neck. He takes these off, opens the boy's
jnouth, and apparently passes the bolt of a kind of padlock through
his xiheek, and locks it. Then, in appearance, he forces an iron spike
into the boy's throat ; the spike being really pushed up into a wooden
handle. He also performs another trick of the same kind as this :
placing the boy on the ground, he puts the edge of a knife upon his
nose, and knocks the blade until half its width seems to have entered.
Several indecent tricks which he performs with the boy I must ab-
stain from describing : some of . them are abominably disgusting.
The tricks which he alone performs are more amusing. He draws a
great quantity of various-coloured silk from his mouth, and winds it
on his arm ; puts cotton in his mouth, and blows out fire ; takes out
of his mouth a great number of round pieces of tin, like dollars \ and,
in appearance, blows an earthen pipe-bowl from his nose. In most
of his tricks he 'occasionally blows through a large shell (called the
Hawee's zummarah), producing sounds like those of a horn. Most
of his sleight-of-hand performances are nearly similar to those of ex-
hibiters of the same class in our own and other countries. Taking a
silver finger-ring from one of the by-standers, he puts it in a little
box, blows his shell, and says, "'Efreet, change it !" he then opens
the box, and shews, in it, a different ring: shuts the box again;
opens it, and shews the first ring: shuts it a third time; opens it,
and shews a melted lump of silver, which he declares to be the ring
melted, and offers to the owner : the latter insists upon having his
ring in its original state : the Hawee then asks for five or ten faddahs
to recast it ; and, having obtained this, opens the box again (after
having closed it, and blown his shell), and takes out of it the perfect
ring. He tfext takes a larger covered box, puts the skull-cap of one
of his boys in it, blows his shell, opens the box, and out comes a
rabbit : the cap seems to s be gone. He puts the rabbit in again,
covers the box, uncovers it, and out run two little chickens : these he
puts in again, blows his shell, uncovers the box, and shews it full of
fateerehs (or pancakes) and kun^feh (which resembles vermicelli) : he
tells his boys to eat its contents; but they refuse to do it without
honey : he then takes a small jug, turns it upside-down to shew that
it is empty, blows bis shell, and hands round the jug full of honey.
The boys, having eaten, ask for water, to wash their hands. Ttye
Hdwee takes the same jug, and hands it filled with water, in the same
manner. He takes the box again, and asks for the cap ; blows his
shell, uncovers the box, and pours out from it, into the boy's lap
3 D
386 CHAPTER XX.
(the lower part of his shirt held up), four or five small snakes. The
boy, in apparent fright, throws them down, and demands his cap,
The Ildwee puts the snakes back into the box, blows his shell, un-
covers the box, and takes out the cap. Another of his common tricks
is to put a number of slips of white paper into a tinned copper vessel
(the tisht of a seller of sherbet); and to take them out dyed of
various colours. He pours water into the same vessel, puts in a piece
of linen, and then gives to the spectators, to drink, the contents of the
vessel, changed to sherbet of sugar. Sometimes he apparently cuts in
two a muslin shawl, or burns it in the middle, and then restores it
whole. Often, he strips himself of all his clothes, except his drawers,
and tells two persons to bind him, hands and feet, and put him in a
sack. This done, he asks for a piaster ; and some one tells him that
he shall ha,ve it if he will put out his hand and take it. He puts out
his hand free, draws it back, and is then taken out of the sack bound as
at first. He is put in again, and comes out unbound, handing to
the spectators a small tray, upon which are four or five little plates
filled with various eatables, and, if the performance be at night,
several small lighted candles placed round. The spectators eat the
food.
There is another class of jugglers in Cairo called " Keeyem " (in
the singulal?, "Keiyim"). In most of his performances, the Keiyim
has an assistant. In one, for instance, the latter places upon the
ground twenty-nine small pieces of stone. He sits upon the ground,
and these are arranged before him. The Keiyim having gone a few
yards distant from him, the assistant desires one of the spectators to
place a piece of money under any one of the bits of stone : this being
done, he calls back the Keiyim, informs him that a piece of money
has been hidden, and asks him to point out where it is; which the
conjuror immediately does. The .secret of this trick is very simple:
the twenty-nine pieces of stone represent the letters of the Arabic
alphabet ; and the person who desires the Keiyim to shew where the
money is concealed commences his address to the latter with the letter
represented by the stone which, covers the coin. In the same manner,
or by means of signs made by the assistant, the Keiyim is enabled to
tell the name of any person present, or the words of a song that has
been repeated in his absence : the name or song having been whis-
pered to his assistant.
Fortune-telling is often practised in Egypt, mostly by a tribe of
Gipsies. There are several small tribes of Gipsies in this country, and
ROPE-DANCERS. 387
they are here often called collectively " Ghagar " or " Ghajar " (in the
singular, "Ghagaree" or "Ghajaree"), which is the appellation of
one of their tribes, who profess themselves to be partly descendants of
the Bardmikeh, like the Ghawdzee; but of a different branch. Many
of their women are fortune-tellers. These women are often seen in the
streets ot Cairo, dressed in a similar manner to the generality of the
females of the lower classes, with the tob and tarhah, but always with
unveiled faces ; usually carrying a gazelle's skin, containing the ma-
terials for their divinations ; and crying, " I perform divination ! What
is present I manifest ! What is absent I manifest !" &c. They mostly
divine by means of a number of shells, with a few pieces of coloured
glass, money, &c., intermixed with them. These they throw down ;
and from the manner in which they chance to lie, they derive their
prognostications : a larger shell than the rest represents the person
whose fortune they are to discover ; and the other shells, &c., repre-
sent different events, evils and blessings, which, by their proximity to,
or distance from, the former, they judge to be fated to befall the
person in question early or late or never. Some of these Gipsy-
women also cry, " Nedukk wa-n'tahir \" (" We puncture and cir-
cumcise !"). 1 Many of the Gipsies in Egypt are blacksmiths, braziers,
and tinkers, or itinerant sellers of the wares which are made by others
of this class, and particularly of trumpery trinkets of brass, &c.
Some Gipsies also follow the occupation of a " Bphluw&n." This
appellation is properly given to a performer of gymnastic exercises, a
famous swordsman, or a champion ; and such descriptions of persons
formerly exhibited their feats of strength and dexterity, under this
name, in Cairo ; but the performances of the modern Bahluwan are
almost confined to rope-dancing; and all the persons who practise
this art are of the tribe called " Ghagar " or " Ghajar." Sometimes
the rope is tied to the mad'neh of a mosque, at a considerable height
from the ground, and extends to the length of several hundred feet,
being supported at many points by poles fixed in the ground. The
dancer always uses a long balancing-pole. Sometimes he dances or
walks on the rope with clogs on his feet, or with a piece of soap tied
1 They tattoo, or make those blue marks upon 285312, says that the fortune-tellers of Egypt
the skin which I have described in the first according to their own statements, are not, as I
chapter of this work; and perform the operation was informed, of the tribe of the Ghagar, but of
alluded to in a note inserted in page 59. The a superior tribe whose name he writes " Helebi,"
late Captain Newbold, in a curious account of the and from whom the Ghagar are a distinct tribe,
Gipsies of Egypt and other Eastern countries, in though the, former sometimes marry Ghagar
the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xiv. women.
3 D 2
388 , CHAPTER XX.
under each foot, or with a child suspended to each of his ankles by a
rope, or with a boy tied to each end of the balancing-pole ; and he
sits upon a, round tray placed on the rope. I have only seen three
of these bahluwans; and their performances were not of the more
difficult kinds above described, and less clever than those of the com-
monest rope-dancers in England. Women, girls, and boys, often
follow this occupation. The men and boys also perform other feats
than those of rope-dancing; such as tumbling, Reaping through a
hoop, &c.
The " Kureyd&tee" (whose appellation is derived from "kird,"
an ape, or a monkey,) amuses the lower orders in Cairo by sundry
performances of an ape or a monkey, an ass, a dog, and a kid. He
and the ape (which is generally of the cynocephalus kind) fight each
other with sticks. He dresses the ape fantastically, usually as a bride,
or a veiled woman ; puts it on the ass ; and parades it round within
the ring of spectators ; himself going before and beating a tambourine.
The ape is also made to dance, and perform various antics. The ass
is told to choose the handsomest girl in the ring, and does so ; putting
his nose towards her face, and greatly amusing her and all the spec-
tators. The dog is ordered to imitate the motions of a thief, and
accordingly crawls along on its belly. The best performance is that
of the kid : it is made to stand upon a little piece of wood, nearly in
the shape of a dice-box, about a span long, and an inch and a half
wide at the top and bottom, so that all its four feet are placed close
together: this piece of wood, with the kid thus standing upon it, is
then lifted up, and a similar piece placed under it ; and, in the same
manner, a third piece, a fourth, and a fifth, are added.
The Egyptians are often amused by players of low and ridiculous
farces, who are called " Mohabbazeen." These frequently perform at
the festivals prior to weddings and circumcisions, at the houses of the
great ; and sometimes attract rings of auditors and spectators in the
public .places in Cairo. Their performances are scarcely worthy of
description : it is chiefly by vulgar jests, and indecent actions, that
they amuse, and obtain applause. The actors are only men and boys ;
the part of a woman being always performed by a man or a boy in
female attire. As a specimen of their plays, I shall give a short
account of one which was acted before the Basha, a short time ago,
at a festival celebrated in honour of the circumcision of one of his
sons ; on which occasion, as usual, several sons of grandees were also
circumcised. The dramtotis personce were a Ndzir (or governor of a
FARCE-PLAYKHS. 389
district), a Sheykh Beled (or chief of a village), a servant of the
latter, a Copt clerk, a Fellah indebted to the government, his wife,
and five other persons, of whom two made their appearance first in
the character of drummers, one as a hautboy-player, and the two
others as dancers. After a little drumming and piping and dancing
by these five, the N&zir and the rest of the performers enter the ring.
The Nazir asks, " How much does 'Awad l the son of Regeb owe ?"
The musicians and dancers, who now act as simple fellaheen, answer,
" Desire the Christian to look in the register." The Christian clerk
has a large dawdyeh (or ink-horn) in his girdle, and is dressed as a
Copt, with a black turban. The Sheykh el-Beled asks him, " How
much is written against 'Awad the son of Regeb?" The clerk
answers, " A thousand piasters/' " How much," says the Sheykh,
" has he paid ?" He is answered, " Five piasters." " Man," says
he, addressing the felldh, "why don't you bring the money?" The
fellah answers, "I have not any." "You have not any?" exclaims
the Sheykh : " Throw him down," An inflated piece of an intestine,
resembling a large kurbag, is brought ; and with this the fellah is
beaten. He roars out to the Nazir, " By the honour of thy horse's
tail, Bey ! By the honour of thy wife's trowsers, Bey ! By the
honour of thy wife's head-band, Bey !" After twenty such absurd
appeals, his beating is finished, and he is taken away, and imprisoned.
Presently his wife comes to him, and asks him, "How art thou?"
He answers, " Do me a kindness, my wife : take a little kishk 2 and
some eggs and some sha'eereeyeh, 3 and go with them to the house of
the Christian clerk, and appeal to his generosity to get me set at
liberty." She takes these, in three baskets, to the Christian's house,
and asks the people there, " Where is the M'allim Hanna, the clerk ?"
They answer, " There he sits." She says to him, " M'allim Hanna,
do me the favour to receive these, and obtain the liberation of my
husband." "Who is thy husband ?" he asks. She answers, "The
fellah who owes a thousand piasters." "Bring," says he, "twenty
or thirty piasters to bribe the Sheykh el-Beled." She goes away, and
soon returns, with the money in her hand, and gives it to the Sheykh
el-Beled. "What is this ?" says the Sheykh. She answers, " Take
it as a bribe, and liberate my husband." He says, " Very well : go
to the Na/Jr." She retires for a while, blackens the edges of her eye-
* Thus vulgarly pronounced, for " 'Ewad."
* A description of this will bo found in a subsequent chapter. See the Index.
3 A kind of paste, resembling vermicelli.
390 CHAPTER XX.
lids with ko|il, applies fresh red dye of the henn& to her hands and
feet/ and repairs to the N&tir. "Good evening, my master/' she
says to him, " What dost thou want ?" he asks. She answers, " I
am the wife of ' A wad, who owes a thousand piasters." " But what
dost thou want ?" he asks again. She says, " My husband is im-
prisoned ; and I appeal to thy generosity to liberate him :" and as she
urges this request, she smiles, and shews him that she does not ask
this favour without being willing to grant him a recompense. He
obtains this, takes the husband's part, and liberates him. This farce
was played before the Bdsha with the view of opening his eyes to the
conduct of those persons to whom was committed the office of collect-
ing the taxes.
The puppet-show of " Kara Gyooz " has been introduced into
Egypt by Turks, in whose language the puppets are made to speak. 1
Their performances, which are, in general, extremely indecent, occa-
sionally amuse the Turks residing in Cairo ; but, of course, are' not
very attractive to those who do not understand the Turkish language.
They are conducted in the manner of the "Chinese shadows," and
therefore only exhibited at night.
1 This exhibition is called in Arabic "khay&l e<H)ilV' or, more correctly, " edh-dhill."
CHAPTER XXI.
PUBLIC RECITATIONS OF ROMANCES.
THE Egyptians are not destitute of better diversions than those de-
scribed in the preceding chapter : reciters of romances frequent the
principal kahwehs (or coffee-shops) of Cairo and other towns, par-
ticularly on the evenings of religious festivals, and afford attractive
and rational entertainments. The reciter generally seats himself
upon a small stool on the mastabah, or raised seat, which is built
against the front of the coffee-shop : l some of his auditors occupy the
rest of that seat, others arrange themselves upon the matabahs of
the houses on the opposite side of the narrow street, and the rest sit
upon stools or benches made of palm-sticks ; most of them with the
pipe in hand; some sipping their coffee; and all highly amused, not
only with the story, but also with the lively and dramatic manner of
the narrator. The reciter receives a trifling sum of money from the
keeper of the coffee-shop, for attracting customers : his hearers are
not obliged to contribute anything for his remuneration : many of
them give nothing; and few give more than five or ten faddahs. 8
The most numerous class of reciters is that of the persons called
" Sho'ara " (in the singular " Sha'er," which properly signifies a
poet}. They are also called " Aboo-Zeydeeyeh," or " Aboo-Zeydees/'
from the subject of their recitations, which is a romance entitled
" the Life of Aboo-Zeyd " (" Secret Aboo-Zeyd " 8 ). The number of
these Sho'ara in Cairo is about fifty ; and they recite nothing but the
adventures related in the romance of Aboo-Zeyd.
This romance is said to have been founded upon events which
Happened in the middle, of the third century of the Flight j and is
i See the engraving which accompanies this entertain a private party; as, in the former case
chapter. his profits are usually proportioned to the talent
3 The reciter is generally heard to greater which he displays.
aHvfmtRffA in tHiblio than when he is hired to * Valtrarlv so called, for " Seeret Abee-Zevd."
392 CHAPTER XXI.
believed to have been written not long after that period ; but it was
certainly composed at a miieh later time, unless it have been greatly
altered in transcription. It is usually found in ten or more small
quarto volumes. It is half prose, and half poetry ; half narrative, and
half dramatic. As a literary composition, it has little merit, at least
in its present state; but as illustrative of the manners and customs
of the Bcdawecs, it is not without value and interest. The heroes
and heroines of the romance, who arc mostly natives of central
Arabia and El-Yemen, but some of them of El-Gharb (or Northern
Africa, which is called "the West" with reference to Arabia), gene-
rally pour forth their most animated sentiments, their addresses and
soliloqtiies, in verse. The verse is not measured ; though it is the
opinion of some of the learned in Cairo that it was originally con-
formed to the prescribed measures of poetry, and that it has been
altered by copyists : still, when read, as it always is, almost entirely
in the popular (not the literary) manner, it is pleasing in sound, as it
also often is in matter. Almost every piece of poetry begins and ends
with an invocation of blessings on the Prophet.
The Sha'er always commits his subject to memory, and recites
without book. The poetry he chants; arid after every verse, he
plays a few notes on a viol which has but a single chord, and which
is called "the poet's viol," or "the Aboo-Zeydee viol," from its
only being used in these recitations. It has been described in a
former chapter. The reciter generally has an attendant with another
instrument of this kind, to* accompany him. Sometimes a single
note serves as a prelude and interlude. To convey some idea of the
style of a Sha'er's music, I insert a few notes of the commencement
of a chant :
Ma - ka - la - tfc" Khadra 'anda ma kad te -
Jl=rr^=^p= i -^n^^- == ^p = s!S=c=====tf
fek - ke-ret li - ma kad gar a mabeynneg - a Hi-lal. 1
These words commence a piece of poetry of which a translation will be i'qjind in. this chapter.
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11